The Life of a Phoenix
by Shriayle
Summary: "I haven't seen a prospective talent so promising since we found Jane and Alec. Can you imagine the possibilities when she is one of us?" What if Bella was always one of the Volturi? What if she wasn't born in the twentieth century, but in the ninth? What if her siblings were the infamous "witch twins"—Jane and Alec? AU: starts in 800 AD. Jane/Demetri, Alec/Renata
1. Prologue: Birth

The mother was sobbing.

The birth was not going as well as the clergy had expected. Something was wrong with the children inside the womb, something devious, something dark.

Another scream wrenched itself from the agonized woman. She prayed to the great Father above to end her suffering, through ending the painful birth or even just ending her life. She prayed to the God that had never let her down before, that had given her the miracle of having more children after the Doctor had told her it was impossible.

The woman could taste the bitter irony of her wish.

From the beginning, these children had been a pain. They had caused a blinding headache and an overwhelming nausea. The woman had been barely able to crawl out of her bed, let alone her house, to purge herself in the waves of illness that struck her in the morning. Her stomach had distended further than it had with her first child.

Her first child. A daughter with beautiful brown eyes and red-brown locks. Her skin was pale as the clouds that furnished the Holy Father's Land in the Clouds and soft as if it were the touch of God Himself. Her mother had adored the baby girl the moment she had been conceived; none of the pain the mother now knew had ever occurred with this first child. It was as if she were a gift from God to the mother when she prayed for a dear child, much like Jesus Christ was to the deity.

She had named the girl in hopes that she would be as loyal to the Father as her mother was. Isabella, devoted to God.

A year and a few moons later, after seeing how gentle Isabella was growing to be, and how caring, the mother prayed once again to God. She prayed for the same miracle as the Great Mother Mary had received. And she had received her blessing.

A twisted blessing.

For the children, and she found there were two of them growing inside of her, were ravenous monsters. They squirmed and kicked each other in competition for food. One, the stronger, was decidedly masculine to the mother, and she began calling him Alexander after the great Greek general she had heard so much of. The other, the weaker, still clung to life. She was called Jane, as she and her brother were both gifts from God, despite all of the suffering they caused.

The mother wailed again. The children were shoving each other, jostling to be the first one to leave the shadowy world they had known for so long. The midwife with the woman looked panicked as she tried to press down against the two babies and they just fought right back. The woman's sister was holding Isabella in the corner; the poor girl was bawling in response to the mother.

"Is it almost over?" the woman begged. The midwife gave one last definite push before looking at her sympathetically. "Aye, I do think so," she responded. "One of 'em should be born soon, mim, don't you worry about that."

The woman gave a shudder as another wave of pain racked her. "Please, my Alec, my Jane," she begged out loud. "Please save your mother from the suffering you are forcing her through now. Please," she cried over and over.

The clergyman hurried in, having heard of the struggle from the crowd of neighbors that were nervously standing outside of the hut's door. "Miss Helen," he said calmly. The mother turned her wild eyes to him. "You must be warned. This birth is not natural."

The mother grew silent, despite her growing pains. The agony in her eyes slowly morphed into hatred once she understood the man's words. "May your God be damned to Hell, heathen," she seethed. The midwife tried to shush her. "Nay, Mary, stay back," she snarled right back before turning to the clergyman again. "I don't follow your precious Pope for this reason. You may think you can control me in this, but not today. I will never follow your Church, and neither will my babes. May you rot in my Hell for even thinking so!"

At this moment, she gave another shriek. The priest winced back before his eyes widened. The woman's swollen stomach was beginning to shift, ever so slightly. The midwife hurried him and the woman's sister out of the hut before hitching up her dirty skirts and grabbing two linens to use for the babies.

The woman was at ease after her final scream. Her throat was hoarse, the space between her legs ached, and her stomach felt flat and overall just wrong, but she was so happy. She gazed fondly down at the two suckling babies in her arms. "Jane," she murmured, looking at her new daughter's pale brown hair. "Alec," she whispered, stroking her son's slightly darker locks. She smiled to herself, singing a song from the Torah, the Holy Book she read, and the twins drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Sometimes, the life of a person begins with a bang. Sometimes, it begins with a whimper. Such is the way the world is.

Sometimes, people open their eyes and see light, _glorious light!_ And they cry out in awe of the massive Light, the Light that was a giant contrast from the Dark they came from. Many times, eyes grow wide, reaching for the light, never making it. Other times, we just sit and stare into the beauty of the Light.

And we live our lives in the Light. We live to know. To know is to have Light. The Light is warm, safe, appealing. We must have Light for ourselves, so that we can radiate our warmth and feel safe among those who do the same. We fear the cold-blooded creatures that crawl on our feet or through the grass. We embrace the warm, furry creatures that share our warm-bloodedness and need for companionship.

But what happens when there is no Light? When all there is to look forward to is the Dark? When all we see is the shadowy Darkness rearing its ugly head towards us, smirking greedily, rapacious fingers trailing ever closer to our Light.

The Dark, the crawling, the shadows, the death, the unknown we can never foresee.

Many children grow up fearing the Dark, hiding from it or warding it away with small lights that stay on for as long as needed, and for good reason. The Dark holds our insecurities, our hatreds, our fears, our angers, our hatreds, and all things thrust into despair.

Our children are nothing like that. They absorb the Light, the happiness, the joy, the laughter, the merriness, the giddiness, the sheer ecstasy of life. They giggle and shriek as they sprint across rooms or fields, tripping ever so often but always getting back up. The Light is what draws them up in the end. They feel the urge from other children, other orbs of light, and they willingly subject themselves to the possibility of yet another fall, if only they can follow the light.

Within all of us is just a fragment of that light. Our lives are forever touched by that innocent period of our youth where we just embraced the light for all it was worth. We cling onto the light for our full, entire lives, however long that may seem.

But what happens when the light is snuffed out? What happens when the one treasure we fight to keep throughout our lives just dies one day? Would we just find ourselves in a coma for as long as the light takes to rekindle, or would we just die right away, our bodies cooling as they find themselves incapable of breathing more heat into limbs that refuse to work?

What if we overpower the Light, the fragile Light we fight so hard to keep whole? What if the Darkness finally reaches out and clamps down on our light, claiming it as its own?

What if we force ourselves to recombine and force the Light to return? What if we force the Darkness to relinquish some light, in exchange for service?

Because that's what some of us do. We were conquered by the Light and by its Reason, but we fought back and stole it back for our selfish desires. The Darkness works through us after our desperate hunt for life. We are sent to be the Dark's servants.

For that reason, Light hates us. No matter what we do, it stubbornly shies away from our very bodies. We can't support life on our own; we must consume the life force of other creatures to keep our bodies functioning.

For we are the body snatchers at night. We are the unknown murderers of the world. We are the saintly demons that descend during the Armageddon to plague mankind. We are the souls of those thought to be long since dead. We are the statues whose eyes seem to follow your every move as you walk across a room. We are the soul devourers, the dream eaters, the death defiers, the light snuffers.

We are the blood drinkers.

We are the night walkers.

We are the vampires.

We are the witch siblings.

Welcome to hell, you won't be leaving here soon.

Alive, anyways.


	2. Prologue: Noticed

**Hello there! Shriayle here, just wanted to thank anyone who has favorited/reviewed/followed this story! This is my first Twilight based fanfiction, so thanks for the attention, I guess xD I actually wanted to write a story about Jane and Alec only, but Isabella snuck in here somehow, darn her. She will be OOC from the book (AKA she will be more of a BAMF if I do say so myself) so if you want a spineless protagonist and love triangles, this definitely isn't the story for you! Just some warning.**

**Also much of what I say is powered by some form of energy I receive at midnight, so let me know if there are any mistakes so I can correct them! Thanks!**

**White Blood 01: Probably not; I'm planning on keeping the main book plot the same, only with Isabella as an additional Volturi guard. There will be another girl instead of Bella, though.**

* * *

Time passed. The mother watched at the moons grew and shrank from black voids to perfect white circles stuck in its sphere. Her hair grew gray and whitened, and her strength waned like the moon, but did not grow back. She gazed fondly at her children with gradually fogging eyes, until her youngest two reached the age of seven years before dying of stress and the ague.

Isabella had grown into a healthy young girl. She still had her pale, soft skin and her glowing brown eyes, but her hair lightened and became the color of a fine table worthy of being owned by only the greatest of lords. She had grown willowy but strong, and she ran about bare of foot and easy of mind. No one doubted her warm heart or her innocence; rather, the entire village became a haven for the orphaned child. She would walk into the Church and ask the clergyman sweetly for a copy of the Holy Book so that she could read the story of Esther once again.

Her siblings were another story. Alexander, or Alec as the villagers would call him, saying that his mother was a heretic enough, was also a sweet kid. He was somewhat slower than his sisters, physically, and some strangers would even say mentally. However, he was much smarter than his twin, almost as smart as his bookish older sister. He was the kind of person who would just stop what he was doing and stare into the sky. Not many people outside of Jane and Isabella really knew how to construe the odd behavior; some would tease him, asking which birds he wanted to shit on his face, and others would just shake their head in bewilderment and walk on.

Jane was the one that the other villagers were scared of. While she looked positively angelic, with her long, flowing hair and her wide, blue eyes, the people whispered that she was the reason for their mother's agony and eventual death. They said that she was a demon straight from hell, that she was Lucifer's spawn and should be treated accordingly. She had a sadistic streak, it was true; she would pilfer pieces of glass from the lord's house, somehow, and contently sit burning ants with the reflection. Every time an ant began to smoke, she would grin, and upon every pain-induced death, she would clap her hands and chortle before starting again with a new victim. Isabella tried her hardest to keep the glass away from her sister, but Jane would just find another piece from somewhere.

So the villagers nervously watched as the orphaned children, whose father was a soldier that had come to the Anglo Lands after serving the Franks. No one knew why he came, but soon after Jane and Alec were conceived, he had vanished, and his corpse washed up later. No one had the heart to tell the already ailing mother of his untimely death.

As the siblings grew, the villagers noticed Isabella beginning to care for Jane and Alec. When Jane ran in, bawling that one of the other children had shoved her into the mud, snarling, "Witch!", Isabella was the one to hug the girl and storm out to confront the unfortunate lad in question. When Alec wandered into the hut and asked about how the sky was blue, Isabella was the one to quietly quote scripture, reciting how in Genesis 1:6-8 "God made the expanse and separated the water above it." She was the one to bathe them, feed them, and clothe them, all while never taking more for herself than she needed. And the villagers chose to help her in her endeavor. They would drop by and give her some of the sub par crops that the village had to deal with, and she would always graciously accept the head of cabbage or small bowl of rye a villager gave her with a "God bless, good sir" or "May your children be blessed, ma'am." The village clergy recognized her sweet soul and helped her in caring for the children when she herself couldn't.

And so, Jane and Alec and Isabella grew strong and fit in the community, and all those who helped them found themselves blessed later on. The boy that helped Jane up when his friends decided to shove her into a pile of manure later found that his crops grew bountiful and well while the other boys' grew weak and feeble. The clergy that helped Alec learn to read and write got twice as many coins from the Pope for work in the village. And those who helped Isabella, those who gave her those crops and care, they found their work given back to them twice-fold and they were able to send their sons to towns to become apprentices.

The children themselves grew strong, despite inheriting their mother's short stature. Alec found himself growing taller than Jane, much to his amusement and her chagrin. Isabella was only a few inches taller than Alec, despite her two year advantage; the villagers predicted that he would cease growing soon enough, since they couldn't remember his father's height and just figured that he would be like his mother anyways.

Sometime before Jane and Alec's tenth birthdays, Isabella had ventured into the woods. It was a risky move, one the villagers balked at, but she had found a small clearing where the wood was firm and mostly dry, which she would haul back and give to her neighbors in exchange for food. It was an odd arrangement, but wood was scarce for the cowardly villagers, and they accepted it.

Isabella ventured through the brush, following her invisible path. She quickly and quietly walked through the trees, but soon stopped and turned around. "Jane? Alec?" she called back, and after a moment of silence, the two twins sheepishly emerged from the bushes they had been hiding behind. "What are you two doing here?" Isabella asked, her stern expression marred by the hint of a smile dancing around the corners of her mouth.

"W-we wanted to help, Isa," Jane muttered, fidgeting slightly. Her blue eyes were downcast. Alec stared down as well, but he just stood still, unlike his restless twin.

Isabella glanced towards the sky, checking the sun's position. It was spring, but the sun had already climbed almost to high noon. She let out a breathy sigh.

"Well, there's not enough time for me to take you back to the house," she admitted. Jane perked up a little bit and glanced up. Alec didn't move.

"Come along," the twelve-year-old girl said, beckoning for her younger siblings to follow her. Jane and Alec exchanged a happy look before darting along behind their sister, following her like loyal dogs. The trio made their way to the sunlit clearing.

Unbeknownst to them, another figure was watching them from the shadows of the forest. Crimson eyes glowed from the darkness as a girl, one that looked only slightly older than Isabella, observed the three with an interested glance. Their sweet scent curled over to her, and she began to salivate, but she held herself back. She flicked a single strand of hair away from her face nonchalantly, watching the dark brown curl slowly join its compatriots. All the while, she thought of the children that danced before her.

The girl watched as Isabella, Jane, and Alec began to gather sticks. She watched as the boy picked one up and jabbed his twin sister with a devilish smile. She watched as the girl grabbed one of her own and the two began to wrestle. She noted the girl's obvious advantage: she wasn't afraid to wound her brother. She watched as the older girl laughed before calling out to them in an unknown tongue; why didn't anyone speak Latin or French around here? The boy stopped at his older sister's words, but the younger girl took a while to calm down, turning a moping face over to her sister. The older girl gave her a stern look before calling out again, and the twins (for they looked too similar not to be) reluctantly began to gather wood once again.

By this time, the girl had seen enough. She danced back to her own family, where her mate and sister and brothers, as well as some other people, were gathering. They prepared to hunt.

One man, one that looked almost nine years the girl's senior, looked up. His eyes lit up upon seeing the girl approach.

"Sulpicia, my love," he crooned out. The dark-haired girl smiled coyly and responded, "Aro, darling," before they embraced. The other woman, one that looked around twenty, rolled her eyes and snorted. "You two are disgusting," she snapped out before walking away.

Aro and Sulpicia broke their hug, glaring at her back. When the other woman had gotten out of earshot (that is to say, extremely far away), Aro pecked his mate on the cheek and said, "Where did you get off to, my little doe?"

She put her hand in his and stared into his eyes as he scouted her mind for new memories. Upon coming across them, his eyes widened and he let go in shock. "Three potentials?" he whispered. She nodded.

"They are so young," he breathed, still surprised that they had found anyone at all. "Yes," she whispered, "but so perfect, too."

Aro closed his eyes. Yes, he could see the older girl at his side, her siblings flanking him. He could imagine it all.

Sulpicia watched as her mate took this new image in. She looked at him hopefully. "Well?"

He nodded. "They will join. But," he said, cutting off whatever she was about to say, "they are too young. We have just implemented the immortal child rule."

"They are but my age," she protested, but she knew he was right. Having seen how the two younger children wrestled on the ground, she knew that if they got angry, whole cities could be demolished.

"Soon, my precious," Aro whispered. "Soon they will join us."

* * *

They say that others can't force you to feel pain.

They say that being robbed of feeling is the worst robbery of all.

But how can we even truly feel, if our hearts stopped working?

Chew on that.

Why should we care about your pain, if we have so much to gain?

And so much to lose, some may say, but what can there be to lose?

A soul?

We have none.

Our souls died long ago, as well as our humanity and our empathy and our sympathy.

We serve ourselves.

No one else.

This is our story, the one that tells of how three children grew in a time of relative ease. We don't have devices, or those applications and games. We found our own ways to amuse ourselves.

But pain is universal. We felt the worst pain.

So why should yours make us feel as bad as you think we should?

Only those with sympathy can truly know.

Too bad we don't have any.


	3. Prologue: Visited

**Thank you to manielle and Seras196 for reviewing! In response to both, I don't think [Isa]bella will be paired to anyone yet. She is most definitely not going to be paired to Edward, as he will become an integral part later with a different mate, but I have been thinking about others. The other key pairs are probably Jane/Demetri and Alec/Renata. Also, just to let you know, I've already written almost ten chapters so far xD If you ask a question about the next chapter, I'll probably just ask you to be patient for me to upload.  
**

* * *

Have you heard the tale of the juniper tree?

Once upon a time, long ago—or not, depending on when you were turned—there was a woman, a beautiful woman, with a husband and a heart full of love, but no children.

How she yearned for a child, for a being that she made with the love she shared with her husband!

But she never got it.

And one day, under a juniper tree, she made a blood sacrifice. See, God only knows you're there when you do something drastic, even if it's just pricking your finger accidentally with a needle.

She watched her blood spill on the snow and voiced, once more, how she yearned for a child! And He finally heard, amongst the white noise of everyone's prayers in the entire damned planet, and he finally gave her one. In the night she shared with her husband, God came in and planted a seed in her womb, a seed from her husband.

And the seed sprouted, and she gave birth to a boy that was white as snow, but red as blood, for that was what God remembered from that day.

And then the woman died of happiness. They usually do.

And the man remarried. And his stepmother was a shrewd woman. She didn't need God's blessing to make a child with the man: she had a fair-haired, light-hearted daughter.

You can guess how the story goes. The woman wants her daughter to have everything, she plans to murder the son.

But this time, she actually does.

Granted, she doesn't do so on purpose. Her daughter runs in, asking for the fruit of an apple tree, and she decides to wait for her stepson to return first. She sets up the chest of apples so that the son must stick his head in himself and choose his own fruit. She walks in and the demon inside her, just like the demon in all of us, whispers in her ear, and she listens, and throws the trunk lid down on top of his neck, and his head comes off into the apples, and I guess that is why apples are red.

That's not the moral of the story; that's just my interpretation.

She ties his head up in a kerchief and props it up on his body, and makes her daughter believe that she killed him. And the loving mother cooks her son up in a stew and feeds it to her husband, all while her daughter is watching. And the daughter takes the bones out to the juniper tree, and by some witchcraft, he turns into a bird.

It wasn't our doing, I swear.

And the bird flies about, and gets a golden chain and red shoes and a whetting stone from the village locals. And he comes back home, somehow carrying all three, and he calls out to the family. He drops the chain, _whhooooo!_, onto his father's neck, and drops the shoes, _wheeeeeee!_, in front of his sister, and drops the stone, _whooooo—PLOP!_, onto his stepmother's body. And by some magic, he gets turned back into a human at the stepmother's death, and his father and sister and he all celebrate by going inside.

Can you tell me what's wrong here?

You can?

That means you still have a conscience.

We'll have to rid you of that.

* * *

Isabella dragged her siblings back to the village. They had rambunctiously played in the clearing, scattering wood everywhere, and now she was returning rather late and they were still fooling around. "Alec, Jane!" she snapped at them. "We have to get home before dark." The two twins gave her mutinous looks, but seeing the genuine anger in her eyes, they quieted down and murmured apologies.

Upon returning to the village, Isabella chose the sticks that she and her siblings would use for the night. She took the remaining wood and ventured out to the streets. She knocked on doors and offered the firewood, and received barley and vegetables in response. At one house, she even received a precious bag of almonds that she took with tears in her eyes, tears of joy and gratitude. The villagers loved to treat her with these things, for she did not know just how much she deserved the goods herself.

Isabella had only three sticks left when she began to trudge home. By that time, the sun had set and twilight descended across the land. _The time when the sun dies for the day and the moon comes out to play,_ Isabella pondered. The folk rhyme was an odd one, one that only the people of her specific village knew, but she heeded it well. The moon was never a good omen to her; her mother had stared at it with hunger, watching the passing times.

The girl heard the whisper of feet behind her and whipped around, trembling. She saw nothing. Shadows began to creep along the floor, and in her bewildered eyes, they reached towards her. Their rapacious fingers drew nearer and nearer. She suppressed a panicked scream and turned back around, walking quickly and purposefully back home.

Behind her, two cloaked figures followed. One had a cloak the color of the darkening twilight sky, the other a cloak of near black. "Chelsea," the first rumbled; it was a man with the same crimson eyes as the girl Sulpicia from earlier. The smaller figure glanced at him. "Afton, that was them," she said offhandedly. "Or, at least, one of them."

"Who is she bound to? Who would care if she died?" he asked her. Chelsea closed her eyes. Unlike her companion, her irises were beginning to turn black. They were currently a glowing burgundy, not nearly as potent as Afton's. She reopened them, exposing their luminescence to the waning light. "No one. She is bound tightly to her siblings and only superficially to the villagers in this town," she responded.

Afton chuckled. "And I assume that the siblings are what is stopping Aro right now," he said, a statement more than a question.

Chelsea nodded in agreement. Afton stretched his shoulders out discreetly, trying to hide his skin from the light. "Well then, our work is complete," he said with a sigh. Chelsea nodded again and the two vanished into the night.

Meanwhile, in the house, Jane and Alec were fighting over the almonds. "Can't I have one now, Jane?" Alec practically begged, trying to take one of the three in Jane's palm. She snatched her hand away, closing her fist around them, and glowered right back. "No, Alec! Didn't Isa give you any to eat?" she growled right back. Isabella sighed and said, "Jane, I told you to share."

Jane pouted and reluctantly gave Alec two of the nuts; Alec thanked his twin and hugged her, much to her chagrin. Isabella chuckled at the twins' relationship.

There was a knock at the door. Isabella glanced at it, her eyebrows furrowed.

"Who is it?" she called out.

There was no response.

"Hello?"

She opened the door to see a man standing there. He wore a cloak that blended into the pitch-black night. He looked about nineteen and stood stock still in the doorway. Isabella immediately felt that something was quite wrong with the situation. She immediately became suspicious.

"Jane, Alec," she called out, her gaze never leaving the stranger's. "It's time you slept."

"Isa! We're not tired, right Alec?" Jane whined in response.

Isabella finally broke her stare to glare at her sister. "Do it. Now, Jane," she responded. The female twin sighed dramatically before dragging her brother to a pile of blankets in front of the makeshift fireplace they had.

Isabella quietly stepped outside and closed the door behind her. She stared into the stranger's eyes again; this was a practically impossible task for her, given that he was at least a foot taller. He immediately broke into a grin, despite his previous mournful expression.

"Bonjour, ma chérie," (Hello, my dear)he crooned. She raised an eyebrow. "Excusez-moi, monsieur, mais est-ce que vous êtes un noble?" (Excuse me, sir, but are you a noble?) she responded.

The man laughed out loud for the first time in a long time. His laughter was like chimes ringing, but Isabella was immediately put on guard. "Parce que," she tried again, "il y a personne ici qui parle le français, sauf le clergé. Le français est la langue des nobles, et pas celle des paysans comme nous" (Because…no one speaks French here, except for the clergy. French is a language for nobles, not for peasants like us.)

The man shook his head. "Non, nous ne sommes pas des nobles," (No, we're not nobles) the man responded. "Nous sommes des simples voyageurs à la recherche des...amis." (We are simple travelers that are searching for... friends.)

Isabella was still rather suspicious. She made a slight bow. "Nobles ou pas," (Nobles or not) she said, "je ne vous veux pas ici auprès de mon frère et ma sœur. Je suis désolée mais je voudrais que vous vous en allez, Monsieur." (I don't want you here, near my brother and my sister. Sorry, but leave, sir.) With that, she bowed her head slightly before reentering the hut, still wondering about the stranger's odd cherry-colored eyes.

The man blinked after the girl had closed the door in his face. He stood at the doorway awkwardly for a moment more before moving so swiftly away that the neighbors swore a sudden gust of wind picked up. He rejoined his companions in the woods, where they could speak Latin in peace and not worry about small girls telling them off for wandering so close to human civilization.

Aro's eyes darted up when he heard Marcus approach. "Brother," Aro called out. "What have you learned?"

Marcus's eyes flashed in amusement, much to Aro's shock. "Not what you wanted to, brother," he responded, laughing to himself yet again.

Aro's eyebrows furrowed. "What is the matter?" He quickly grabbed Marcus's hand, amid Marcus's protests. Aro saw the golden bond between the three children; he saw the love and protection that the eldest harbored for her siblings and the ferocity of her intent to protect them. He saw the connection between the twins. He saw how they viewed the older girl as a beacon of safety; when she was around, they were safe and content. He saw the twins pout at their sister's commands, but he also saw the flicker of gratitude in the girl's eyes. She did not want to deal with Marcus, Aro realized, and she was glad when their sister sent them away.

He withdrew his hand. Marcus snatched his away, giving Aro a scathing look before wandering off, his eyes clouding and becoming guarded.

Aro wanted the children under his control. The powers that they would have…

He wasn't a senser. He didn't know of these things. But he could somehow understand that the twins had some odd aura about them; he had heard in the village of how they were supernatural, the boy almost an angel, the girl almost a devil. He heard that if a person helped a twin, they would find themselves somehow rewarded, but if they harmed one, they would find both an angry older sibling and misfortune tailing them.

He had even learned their names. Jane. Alexander. Isabella. Such beautiful names, ones that reminded him of the Italy he was forced to leave.

Yes, these children would help him. They would somehow be the secret weapons that he used to wrest his home back, as well as his rule. Aro smirked at no one before vanishing in the same direction that Marcus had only moments before.

* * *

**Before you ask, I do know my way around basic French (I've been taking classes for about three years), so I didn't really use Google Translate or anything. However, if there are some mistakes, please let me know. I'm not perfect.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Shriayle**


	4. Prologue: Burning

**Thanks for all the support, everyone :)**

* * *

More years passed. Isabella had grown into her womanhood; she was a dazzling seventeen years old, with waist-length mahogany hair and sparkling brown eyes. She was still as tender-hearted as she had been when she was twelve, but had become more thoughtful and patient, especially with her siblings.

The twins were now fifteen. Jane had started to cut her hair as short as she could ever since cows attempted to graze on her head, much to Alec's amusement. Every moon or so, Isabella would take out a razor and carefully cut Jane's hair until it was as short as Alec's, sometimes even shorter. Jane had mellowed out a bit, but still had a small sadistic streak, especially when it came to insects. Isabella had been finding dismembered insect bits across the front yard, and she really didn't want to know.

Alec was still just as thoughtful, but he had developed a sarcastic tongue to combat Jane's odd naiveté. His hair had grown a shade darker than Jane's so that it was somewhat of a blend of both of his sisters' hair colors. Both twins still had their wide, blue eyes, eyes that didn't match Isabella's at all.

The children thrived and grew, and they became not-so-much children. Isabella became the twins' maternal figure, as well as their older sister. Jane became the epitome of mischief and Alec the epitome of calm. The villagers watched them grow. They watched their bond grow. They noticed how whenever Jane was angered, something seemed to go wrong. Another villager might somehow break a limb or stab themselves on their pitchforks. When Alec was angered, which happened far less, far worse things happened. People would slice their leg and not notice until they got home, blood dripping all the way from the fields. Once, a woman didn't notice until too late that what she had thought was an affectionate nudge from her cow had actually pierced her side. She died a few days later of blood loss.

The villagers just kept whispering about it, about how their abilities were almost like witchcraft. The great Frank leader Charlemagne had begun to hunt the witches in his land, the villagers discussed, so they could just do the same. The twins were dangerous, they said, and they had to be punished. The whispers grew. They opted to introduce them to hell soon.

The stakes were raised. The kindling gathered. Isabella even had a part in this scheme without knowing it; she had gathered wood and given it to the villagers, who had kept it, almost guiltily, for this morbid purpose.

The coven in the woods saw these preparations with worry. They wanted Jane and Alec and Isabella for themselves, and fire was the one thing that could pierce their diamond-hard skin and cause them any sort of bodily harm. Jane and Alec weren't old enough, or discreet enough, to disappear into the woods one day and never return, assumed to have run away from life in the village. And Isabella wasn't the type of person to do that either.

So they waited and watched. They watched the stakes. They watched the children. They watched the villagers.

Until the fateful day came, a stormy one, with rain threatening the flames. Isabella had brought Jane and Alec out to the forest yet again to gather more wood for more food; the twins were growing so fast that they needed more nourishment than Isabella had anticipated. They returned happily, singing a song as they went, whistling the parts that they couldn't play on an imaginary instrument.

The villagers surrounded them as soon as they left the woods. A man grabbed Jane and Alec and forced their arms behind their backs. Isabella was pushed away roughly.

"Ow! Get off," Jane screeched, wrestling with her captor. Alec was silent as he frantically tried to slip loose. The two men sneered and just held on tighter.

"Shut it, _witch_," one snarled at Jane, twisting her arms even tighter. She let out a shriek of pain.

"Don't touch my sister like that," Alec growled, headbutting the man and earning the same punishment for himself. Tears trickled down his cheeks as he bit his lip to hold back an unearthly scream.

"Please! Don't!" Isabella begged from the side of the crowd, where she was jostled away mercilessly. She sobbed out as she saw her siblings being born away, frantically calling for her help. She tripped on a rock; she landed face first into the ground. Heaving with tears, Isabella pushed herself off and stumbled almost drunkenly after the crowd, pushing through bodies towards the twins.

She felt herself being held back. She whipped around, eyes wild, to see a shocked clergyman. "Please, miss Isabella," he murmured, pulling her gently away, "don't make this harder than it should be."

She looked at him in disgust. "What do you mean," she growled out.

He looked at her sadly. "They are to be burned, just as they will be in Hell for their actions. The witchcraft they perform is not of this world, and not of Heaven," he replied.

Her eyes widened with shock, and she tried to run after the crowd for her siblings once more. "Miss Isabella!" the clergyman whispered out, trying to restrain her. She turned once more and kicked him between the legs. He fell to the ground, writhing in pain. She spat on his body, much to the shock of the other villagers around them.

"Coward!" she screeched at him. "Coward, and disgrace to God! If you are the spiritual leader for us all, then everyone in this godforsaken village will be brought to Hell and burned! Trying to punish children, mere _children_, for what they cannot control!" She kicked him once more before running away to find her siblings. She ran barefoot, rocks cutting into her feet, and as she ran, she bled. The bloody footprints led the coven later on.

Meanwhile, Jane and Alec had been tied up and prepared for the stake. Jane was still fighting, but Alec had begun to pray, asking His help in ending the pain quickly.

A match was struck. The kindling was placed, the wood arranged ceremoniously. A man threw the flame. And soon, the entire structure was on fire.

Jane screamed. The pain filled her entire body, her small stature. Her dress caught fire, and she frantically shook whatever body part was closest to get rid of it. She breathed in the wooden smoke, coughing, wheezing, shrieking. The pain was simply too much for her to bear. It felt as though the entire village had decided to smite her with the Lord's sword collection, slashing her legs, letting the blood run down, before the skies opened up and rained poison all over her. All that she could think about was the pain. She wondered if this is what the ants felt, all those years ago, and she sobbed out an incoherent apology to them.

Next to her, Alec was still praying. He felt numb to the pain; the pain that he heard his sister suffer from. He felt guilty that he was somehow protected by it, but he was still relieved. He begged God to make this happen faster for the both of them. The smoke caused him to cough violently from time to time, but besides those interruptions, he found himself continuing to whisper under his breath for the deity to end his life as soon as He could.

Isabella ran to the square just as the skies had opened up. Both twins looked unconscious now; Jane was still crying when she thought she saw a brown-haired apparition. "Mama?" she choked out, staring at the woman. Isabella ran straight into the flames, feet bleeding and dress torn, hair tangled and eyes wild. "Jane!" she gasped out, beginning to try and untie the ropes that bound her sister to the burned pole. Jane blinked but couldn't see what was going on; the smoke had caused her eyes to swell, somehow.

"Help us, Isa," she pleaded. Isabella felt the flames reawaken under her and she felt her dress catch on fire, but she didn't care, as long as her siblings were okay. She tore the last vestige of rope from Jane, and she finally got Alec down as well. The three were too tired to move afterwards; they watched as the rain battled the flames, seemingly to no avail, and all three curled up there on the ground, clothes still smoking and slowly burning, minds shutting down from the smoke that was everywhere. They knew nothing else.

* * *

You may think this is it. That this must be the end. That that was the final pain we felt.

Hell no, it wasn't. It wasn't the worst. It wasn't the last.

At least, so far. We've felt worse pain now.

But no human can survive what we had to.

Even us.

So I think you can understand where we are going with this.

This little interlude here? With our retelling of our favorite fairy tale, and our musings?

They end now.

Because now, this is where our real lives begin.

This is where we gain father figures, not just a mother figure.

This is where we learn what a real family is.

It just takes eternity for us to do so.

Hope you've enjoyed our history.

This is where the actual story starts.

* * *

**Confused? I would understand why, haha. This was all a prologue arc~ The story really starts next chapter. Thanks for reading so far, and keep on keeping on :) ~Shriayle**


	5. Reawakening: Reborn from Ashes

**Hello there! Here begins the "REAWAKENING" Arc: basically, this is the first major plotline. It will follow the three siblings as they get their powers and manage to completely master them (sort of). Also, the other members of the guard will be coming in. There will be a few OCs, and I hope you won't mind a bit of deviation from the storyline that Stephenie Meyer gave us.**

**Also, since I've been forgetting: The basic premise of Isabella, Jane, Alec, the Volturi, the Romanians, and any seemingly recognizable features of this universe do not belong to me. Their personalities somewhat belong to me, and the plot does.**

* * *

Isabella awoke to the smell of damp soil and leaves. She did not move. She could not move. Every part of her body tingled with pain and fatigue. She heard a faint whimper and, with a herculean effort, turned her head.

Jane, her little angel, was lying in the fetal position, crying from the pain. Pain from the burns that covered her body, pain from the ligament marks on her wrists, pain that caused the blood to ooze out of the wounds that covered her body. Alec lay next to her, silent and stoic as always, but he too was struggling.

Isabella coughed. Her throat felt dry from the smoke. She moved her head back with a pained grunt before staring at the sky through the trees. She didn't remember running into the forest. All she remembered was curling up in a bed of flames, watching the smoke dance and weave around her.

Suddenly, a pale figure appeared in her peripheral vision. She didn't move again; her neck was already in too much pain. The figure hummed; Isabella realized that she recognized the voice.

"M-monsieur?" she whispered out. The man started, or at least jumped slightly, and somehow was at her side in the next second. He stared down at her, cutting off the light, but she saw every detail of his face, from the impossibly white skin to the glowing red eyes.

"Hush, girl," he said back to her, disappearing from her line of sight. She heard rustling and realized that he had stood back up. She didn't register that he spoke to her in her mother-tongue.

"P-pourquoi sommes nous ici?" (Why are we here?) she choked out. He hushed her again. "Don't go through so much of an effort to speak to me in a foreign language," he scolded gently before picking her up. She heard him mumble to the wind, too fast and too soft for her to pick up the individual words.

The effect of his odd whispering was immediate. Two more figures, one female and the other male, had appeared, both wearing cloaks that resembled the stranger's pitch black one. She noted the female's similarly dark cloak and the male's ever so slightly lighter one. The male was bulkier, much bulkier than the stranger, and the female had light brown hair, similar to Alec's. The three travelled impossibly fast through the trees while holding the children.

"Jane, Alec," Isabella whispered again, trying and failing to reach out and stroke their hair. The man holding her just glanced down and somehow, impossibly, picked up his speed. The others with him mirrored his movement.

Just as suddenly, they stopped. Isabella let out an involuntary grunt as the cold wind that had numbed her wounds went away and her body was suddenly attacked by all of the pain that the burns caused. Jane and Alec weren't doing much better in the others' arms.

Another man approached Isabella in the first man's arms. He was flanked by two women and yet another man. "Is this them?" the new one demanded of the other. The other man, a blond with bored crimson irises, glanced over to Isabella and her siblings. "Yes, Aro, this is them," he said, sighing loudly. "Can I leave now?"

The man with black hair, Aro, snarled at the blond man. "Now listen here, _George_," he growled. The blond flinched back. "I don't particularly care that the humans think that you are Astaroth, for I know that I am far more fearsome. I asked you to keep an eye on these children, and you bring them to me marred."

"I-I was feeding, my lord," George stammered out, all bravado gone. Aro's eyes narrowed. "I'm sure," he muttered, turning back to Isabella and leaning over to her. He seemed to be in his twenties, with sparkling ruby eyes and pale skin that seemed to glimmer in the lighting of the forest. Isabella was slightly entranced just by the quality of his skin.

"I'm sorry, dear," Aro whispered solemnly before bending away from her face. He seemed to be leaning towards her neck—a single prick of pain—and she knew nothing more but the fire raging in her veins.

Jane watched as this odd man bent over her sister and seemed to _bite_ Isabella on the neck, and then on the wrists. She watched as Isabella writhed in pain, shrieking out, pleading for death to come. Jane felt nothing but pure hatred for the man who caused her sister such harm. She twisted and bucked in her captor's arms, but the woman that held her back seemed to be made of marble.

"ISABELLA!" Jane shrieked. Alec was crying alongside her, not making as much of an effort, but calling out all the same. The odd man, Aro or something, whipped around impossibly fast. He seemed to grin to himself, the sadist. _Takes one to know one,_ Jane thought to herself grimly.

"What did you do to our sister?" Alec demanded, beginning to put up a fight. The bulky man holding him held him too strongly for his efforts to really mean anything.

"Why, don't you want to be like her, too?" the man said. Without giving them a moment even for confusion, he suddenly lunged for Jane and bit her neck also. Jane fell to the ground, the woman holding her back having let go. She collapsed on the ground with spasms and choked screeches.

Alec tried to fight to get away, or maybe to get to his sisters. "You bastard!" he howled. "You hellspawn! Whoreson!" He screamed and fought and cursed as Aro slowly approached him. Aro just raised an eyebrow, and the man holding the boy just looked at his master exasperatedly. Aro leaned forward a bit, it seemed.

Only a moment later, Alec found Aro injecting his venom into his bloodstream. He felt the pain that his sisters felt.

It was an odd, unearthly pain. All three siblings would have gladly gotten burned at the stake a hundred times over, if only they could avoid this searing madness. Alec thought blindly that this man must be Satan, and that he had damned all three to Hell. _Why, Father?_ he moaned inwardly, fighting the urge to physically react to the pain, an urge that was, in the end, released.

All three siblings had to withstand the pain of breaking every limb, being thrown off of the tallest cliff, being trampled by the strongest oxen, being burned in Hell, and being bitten by a thousand of the most poisonous snakes all at once. Briefly, all three saw hallucinations.

Isabella saw her siblings crying, searching blindly for her. _I'm here!_ she screamed at them mentally, trying to move towards them, but her limbs wouldn't respond, and the phantom Jane and Alec wandered off, tears streaming down their cheeks, shouting out_ Isa! Where are you? Can't you hear us?_ She let out another shriek of agony before succumbing to the pain again.

Jane saw a giant piece of glass, similar to the one she had used to fry insects. She saw it glint in the sunlight, and then all of a sudden her entire body was on fire. She was smoking; the pain was far more intense than she would have thought. She felt her blood boil, her veins rupture, and the water leaving her body as she writhed around under the hallucination's effect.

After what seemed like an eternity, Alec didn't see anything. All he saw was blackness. He felt as though a giant boulder was slowly squeezing his body, depriving him of air and forcing him to breathe less and less. He gasped out, tried to whisper for help, for death, for _anything_, but no one responded. No one tried to rid him of the suffocation. Tears ran down his cheeks at the effort to forget the pain, to just let Death take him now, no matter if it was to Heaven or to Hell.

Aro looked down, satisfied at his work. The siblings would soon be loyal only to him, and they would all take down the Romanian coven. All was going to plan. He reached out and almost tenderly took Isabella's hand.

Her mind was blank. He could not read anything. Aro let go and staggered back. Never before had any creature, human or vampire, been able to resist his gift. Mind racing, he stumbled forward and stroked Jane's cheek. Instantly, her entire life sprang forth into his mind: chasing her twin around the small hut they lived in, gathering wood, falling asleep to Isabella's quiet singing. He tried Alec as well and got the same result.

_Interesting…_ Aro tried to read Isabella's mind again. Nothing.

Aro felt himself laughing under his breath, but he wasn't able to contain himself for long. His cackling ripped through the previous silence, worrying the other vampires.

"Aro, dear?" Sulpicia asked, her eyes glinting with concern. Aro clasped his mouth with his hand, still chuckling to himself.

"What wondrous powers!" he proclaimed out loud. Sulpicia drew her head back with a startled expression. She looked like a bird at a sudden noise, Aro noticed, all fluffed up and borderline indignant.

Caius, in all of his bitterness, looked intrigued. He bent over the boy, _Alec_, the younger girl had called him in her thoughts. Caius's expression didn't change as he stood up and walked off.

Marcus had already seemed to claim the girl Aro couldn't read. He was watching her fight the venom racing through her system.

"The pieces are in place," Aro breathed to himself, Sulpicia wrapped around one of his arms.

"Checkmate."

* * *

**For those of you curious about George, I didn't make him up. Just look for him on the Wiki or something.**

**...this is rather short. My apologies.**

**Again with the French. Second verse, same as the first.**

**Thanks for reading! ~Shriayle**


	6. Reawakening: Reunion and Discovery

**Thank you for your kind reviews :D I should probably respond to a few of them here just to make sure everyone's up to speed.**

**LVB (Guest): Thank you for your long review! I do much prefer them to shorter ones, but I welcome all reviews anyways. All of your praise really made my day ^_^ Also, if you see any spelling or grammar errors, please just let me know. I hate them, but I usually type these up at midnight when my vision's shot and I miss a few.  
**

**Edna (Guest): Glad you enjoy it!**

* * *

Isabella awoke to the sparkling dust motes and leaf grains floating around in the air above her. Light shone in through a roof of leaves and reflected off of every single one; she could see the light entering through the leaves and off of the dust, shining everywhere. She gasped softly, in wonder, and the dust was jerked around suddenly and so much of the wonderful dust entered her mouth.

Isabella wasn't sure what to make of her surroundings. The pain she had felt, with her heart beating faster than the sparrow's wings, was all gone with the final beat. She timidly raised two fingers to her neck; nothing responded. She was, in essence, an animated corpse.

She supposed that she should have been worried by that. All she felt was an outright curiosity and a yearning to see another person.

The man she had seen at the village, years ago, the one that had knocked on her doorstep, appeared from the forest. Despite having seen him before, it was still a shock to see him, looking as young as the first time she had met him.

He bowed slightly to her. "Greetings, young one," he said. This time, she noticed that he wasn't speaking in French.

"If you know a bit of English, why did you insist on speaking in French?" she asked. Her own voice made her stop talking; it sounded like the birds' chirping in the morning, like the small silver bells that the villagers heard whenever the lord rode by.

He chuckled. "It was all I knew at the time," he replied. His voice was soft, velvety; every single detail about him burst out to her even more than it had when she was human (for she assumed she was no longer human). His skin was sparkling ever so slightly in the light, shimmering, almost, and his eyes glowed red with an inner light. The cape he wore was pitch black, darker than the darkest night sky, and underneath, he wore a nobleman's clothes.

"So you were a noble," she murmured. He somehow heard her and raised an eyebrow. "Didn't I tell you I wasn't?" he asked. "Your clothes tell me otherwise, sir," she shot back.

He held his head back and laughed. "Well, these are, ah, recent acquisitions. But I assume that these questions can wait, for your thirst must be most potent." Isabella hadn't noticed the dryness in her throat until the beautiful stranger had mentioned it; now, all she could think of was whetting the near hunger that she felt within her neck.

The stranger led her back towards the village and had her wait; pretty soon, the most tantalizing smell drifted by them. Isabella glanced back towards the stranger for a single second; he nodded and gestured for her to go. She turned back around and crouched.

The clergyman was walking by, all alone. He didn't know why he ventured towards the forest, only that something drew him, something that needed to be cleansed by God's hands. She leaped out gracefully, simultaneously breaking his neck and sinking her fangs into his throat. His blood sprayed her, but she paid it no mind, dragging the still bleeding corpse back into the forest. She fed on his essence, relishing the warmth.

All too soon, he was dry. She staggered backwards, eyes wide. She had just killed a clergyman. "Oh Father," she breathed, taking another step back. The stranger appeared in front of her the way he always seemed to. She didn't truly notice.

"Next time, wait for the blood to settle before drinking," he recommended, eying her ruined clothes. She raised her eyes towards him.

"I-is that all you can say?!" she shrieked. "I killed one of God's servants!"

"Good thing, too," the stranger said nonchalantly, kicking the corpse almost casually. "It's not like God would even accept our lot."

"What do you mean?"

The stranger cocked an eyebrow at her again. "Why, we're hellspawn. Demons. Devils. Creatures of the shadows, blood drinkers. We have many names, Isabella, but the most common is _vampire_. You aren't of God's realm anymore, my dear, but of Hekate's." With that final note, he turned back around and gestured for her to follow. Not knowing what else she could do, she obliged.

"How is it that you know my name but I don't know yours?" She asked him.

"Why, my dear girl," he responded, "my brother found out upon touching your dear sister's cheek. And my name is Marcus."

She paid no heed to his feeble introduction. "My sister. Jane. Alec. How are they? Are they alright?" she babbled on, desperate to know about the siblings she loved so much.

"They are fine," Marcus replied broadly. He paused before wrinkling his nose a bit. "Although she has a bit of a violent streak. Odd that Caius doesn't like her any more than he does your brother."

"Can I see them?" Isabella pestered.

Marcus shrugged. "You have too strong a bond to them not to." With this final, cryptic statement, he grabbed her wrist. "This is a bit disorienting the first time," he warned. She didn't have any time to react before he ran.

The trees seemed to fly by in a meaningless blur. Branches that should have hit Isabella in the face somehow evaded her at the last second. Her eyes, which were now as red as her companion's, though she didn't know it yet, didn't need to blink the dust out, for they contained enough venom to disintegrate the dirt before it could harm her eyes.

Marcus suddenly stopped. Isabella wasn't really unbalanced, but she did feel the unpleasant sensation of the world catching back up to her. She gasped again upon seeing the two figures in front of her; one was the man that had plunged her into this world. The other was her sister.

Jane spun around. Her petite stature was somehow ever so slightly more childlike; she hadn't developed too much, but she was still recognizably in the stage in between child and adult. Her eyes grew alight with pure joy and she raced off towards Isabella. The older girl had just enough time to open her arms when Jane collided into her, sending them both to the ground. Jane seemed to be crying openly, which Isabella had never seen her do, tears or no (because the younger girl couldn't seem to produce any tears).

Isabella glanced up at the man that had been standing beside her. His black hair complemented his cape almost too perfectly; there was only a minute difference in the shades, one that human eyes would not have even noticed. His eyes glowed red, just as her companion's. This thought reminded her of the man standing beside her. He was ever so slightly in a defensive position.

The man noticed the other's position and frowned. "Stand down, Marcus," he ordered with a feathery, breezy voice. Marcus growled once before shifting back to a much more casual position, though his face showed more hatred than anything. The man smiled pleasantly as though they had all gathered to share a bit of food and he chuckled to himself. Jane looked uncomfortable; she had separated from Isabella and was glancing at the man behind her. The man looked at Isabella once again.

"Ah, my dear Isabella," he breathed. The aforementioned vampire felt exasperated. "If you excuse me, sir," she said, "I would like to know your name before you call me by even just mine, and I don't appreciate the addition of 'my dear.' Isabella is just fine."

The man blinked before breaking out into a smile. "But of course, young one. I am Aro, leader of the Volturi coven."

"Volturi? Isn't that the name of the noble family in Volterra?" Isabella murmured. Her eyes flashed up at him and she wrapped a protective arm around Jane's shoulders. "Why are you in England, sir?"

"Please, just call me Aro." The man, Aro, stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Well, there's a great deal of political information that goes into that. But, Isabella, do you know who I am?"

The brunette was confused. Jane looked slightly frightened.

"I am your creator, Isabella," Aro said, responding to his own question. His brow darkened ever so slightly. "Therefore, I appreciate your cooperation. You are to call me Master, just as some of the others do. Also, you are not to question me." As Isabella wondered why he wanted to be called Aro in one second and Master in the next, a

female appeared by Aro's side; she stared directly into Isabella's eyes.

Isabella somehow felt the woman's power. She was reaching a tendril over to the siblings, trying to ensnare them in her trap. Isabella's arm around Jane tightened and she seethed inwardly. There was an odd buildup inside of her, as though she was holding a piece of string too firmly between her hands and it was about to break. She released the tension, and the tendril was stopped. The female's eyes widened; she tried again, this time with tendrils towards Jane only.

"Not my sister, whore," Isabella snarled, and once again released some form of energy. She crouched protectively in front of Jane, who was staring at the female with murderous intent.

"You said you would protect us, that we didn't need her, Master Aro," Jane said with a high-pitched voice. Isabella offhandedly marveled at her sister's twinkling voice; it sounded like the voice of the stars.

"I did indeed…" Aro said, his words trailing off as he stared in wonder at Isabella. "However, we always need a little bit of reassurance, my dear Jane."

Jane showed her teeth in an impressive growl for a girl who hadn't yet reached five feet. "You will leave us ALONE!" A burst of energy released itself from her; immediately the female was curled up on the ground, screaming in agony.

"Chelsea!" A male ran out of nowhere, as if he had been invisible, and tried to stop the woman's thrashing. Isabella looked coldly on at the scene; Jane was smiling viciously.

The man held onto the woman helplessly; he fixed his wild eyes onto Jane. "You-!" He lumbered forward, snarling, trying to reach Jane as revenge for his incapacitated mate.

He fell, screaming in pain, as he received the same treatment that Chelsea had. He felt his bones catch on fire, his very flesh seem to melt off of his body. He felt his hands strain against bonds, he felt the fire grazing his skin in a macabre gentleness.

"Jane," Isabella murmured. She had reached her limit; this was far too much. Jane just shook her head; they all deserved it, for trying to take her Isa away from her and bind her to that man that caused all of them such pain.

"Jane!" Isabella snapped. Jane looked at her with the expression of a kicked puppy before sulkily ceasing the attack.

Aro had just looked on with lust in his eyes. "Such talent," he breathed.

Isabella finally noticed. "Jane, where's Alec?" she asked, beginning to panic. She couldn't lose her brother, her sweet, innocent brother, to anything, not yet.

"The other man took him away, I think, before we were reborn," Jane responded. Isabella didn't have any idea what her sister meant until Marcus seemed to reawaken. He had been amused by the turn of events, but now, he heard his brother approach. "Caius is coming. He will be…shockingly happy that you haven't yet tamed yours," he drawled to Aro. Aro scowled at him. "Shut it, brother," Aro muttered.

"What? The young one won't listen to him?" Another man, seemingly so much older than Aro and Marcus, swept up, smirking. Alec was following him. The new vampire's eyes swept the scene casually, but he froze upon seeing Jane and Isabella. "Isa? Jane?" he whispered. He glanced desperately at Caius. "Master, may I..?"

"Yes, go on," Caius said, sweeping his hand in a dismissive gesture towards the two girls. Alec immediately ran off and leaped at his siblings. All three of them hugged and cried at the reunion.

Aro saw how Jane was so happy now, so innocent seeming, and then he remembered the pain she had caused. He saw how protective Isabella was now, and how powerful her shield was. He wasn't sure what power Alec would harness, but he knew that this family would serve him, if only they _listened_.

Caius felt Aro's internal turmoil. He gave Marcus a wry grin; the other vampire returned the gesture. Caius was somewhat surprised; it was the first time since Didyme's unfortunate demise that Marcus had seemed so in tuned with the environment.

"When do you think, brother?" Caius asked in a clipped tone.

"Soon, Caius," Aro responded, lost in thought. "We need to train them. We need to ensure that they will serve us. We need to make sure that their powers aren't too much to handle yet."

"Give them more time," Marcus said. The other two looked at him in shock; he hadn't been so involved for centuries. "They need to learn to trust us."

"That may take a while, if Aro's going to be the incorrigible soul I know he is," Caius muttered darkly.

Aro just pursed his lips and watched the siblings talk quietly and compare their skills. Time. That was all he really needed. All he needed before he swept the Romanians away from his beloved Italy and was able to rule again.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! Again, if you see any errors, please let me know so I can fix them.  
**


	7. Reawakening: All is Well

**Replies:**

**Guest and Jamma (Guest): I'm so happy you're enjoying this story :)**

**ArabellaWhitlock: There is a sort of bond between the three kings and the three siblings; Jane serves Aro, Alec serves Caius, and Isabella serves Marcus. It's just my interpretation, based on the facts that Jane always listened to Aro and Alec seemed like a good foil to Caius's violent nature.**

**Here's the actual story for the rest of you~**

* * *

Years passed. Jane and Alec and Isabella had never been good with time; they just saw the sun rise and set. Now, time was meaningless; ever since they learned that they would never need to worry about time's passage, they mocked the sun's meaningless pathway across the sky. They watched their skin glitter in the sun's light, marveling at the beauty of it.

Alec had found his gift. His blind faith had been magnified; the numbness that he insisted God gave him was magnified and he soon was able to harness its power. Jane's piercing pain was fine-tuned to the point where she could control just how much she wanted to see her victims writhe, although Isabella noticed that she often just attacked at the highest power possible. Isabella's protection was powerful enough to block her siblings' abilities as well as protect them from others' mental barrages. She was able to detect other vampires' shielding abilities; what to do with this information, she had no idea.

The three siblings would not let Chelsea near them. They glared at her whenever she tried; Isabella would always murmur a soft warning to Jane, reminding her that Aro would not be pleased if the young girl tried to attack the other vampire. Alec was the only one who could truly calm Jane down; all he had to do was pat her shoulder and she relaxed.

Isabella was wandering the woods in search of new prey; the village that Aro had led them too was becoming frightened, and no one would venture out of the perimeter at night (or in the daylight, for that matter). The vampires were growing thirsty, and Isabella wasn't about to sit and wait for night time to try to penetrate the village itself.

She soon came across a small child; the boy's eyes widened and he screamed bloody murder. Isabella sighed before staring at the boy. He became entranced with the potent look and slowly quieted down. She smiled at him; he seemed almost…dazzled. _Never think that about a child again, _Isabella thought grimly.

"Where's your mama?" she cooed. The boy's mouth hung open. "O-over there, miss," he whispered. She smiled at him again before guiding him back to the worried woman.

"Oh, thank you kindly, dear. I've been looking for my little Edward for far too long. Come now, let's go. Papa's going to be waiting." The two wandered off.

Isabella just shook her head. "What a queer name," she muttered to herself before running away, in search of more valid prey.

* * *

Isabella had managed to quench her thirst and arrive back to base just as Aro was demanding for her presence. She rolled her eyes; God knows what the madman wanted from her now. She acquiesced that she was fortunate he couldn't read her mind, since that thought alone could separate her head from her body.

"Aro, what is it?" she asked. The vampire whipped around and stared at her before saying, "Isabella, do you know what year it is?"

She shrugged. "Time matters not to me," she said candidly. "Why do you ask?"

"I must know if we are to leave, of course," Aro said lightly. They had been sheltering in England for far too long; the Romanians needed to know that the Italians were returning.

"You honestly think that my siblings will be strong enough to take part in your meaningless war?" Isabella asked. Her eyes flashed dangerously. "Do not put Alec and Jane in a bad situation, _master_," she said, sneering at the last word.

"Isabella," Marcus hurried forward. "Don't antagonize my brother again," he said exasperatedly.

"He deserves it," she muttered, but immediately afterwards breathed out an apology with a sniff. Aro just rolled his eyes; he had learned to accept her huffy behavior around him.

"Of course the twins aren't ready yet. They need to learn exactly how damaging their talents can be. However, there has been breaths of battle brewing, and whether we accept it or not, the Romanians will come to us." Isabella snarled at the mention of the other coven. Aro noted this seeming hatred.

"So you will test them out on skirmishes, hither and thither?" she asked, slipping back into "literary talk," as Jane so eloquently described it one day.

"Yes. Smaller battles to see how easily incapacitated vampires are; humans seem to be weaker mentally and physically," Aro explained patiently, as though talking to a small child.

"Mm. Do as you will. I don't particularly care, as long as the twins accept this." With that, Isabella walked away.

Athenodora approached her. The high-browed Greek woman admired Isabella's confidence and almost blatant arrogance towards Aro, two qualities that the women shared. In turn, Isabella relied on Athenodora's advice, although the younger vampire disliked the older's mate. Caius was just a bloodthirsty king that was grooming Alec to be his minion, it seemed, and Isabella's protective instincts wanted to tear his head off for doing so.

"I trust Aro had something, ah, interesting to say?" Athenodora purred. Isabella rolled her eyes; her companion giggled at the childish gesture. "Yes, of course. Just that the war is coming to us rather than vice versa."

Athenodora hummed quietly. "So, just the usual then?" she said, grinning and beginning to walk off. "Yep," Isabella called after her.

"That reminds me," Athenodora paused slightly, "_do_ you know what year it is?"

Isabella snorted. "Of course I do. It's 897 years after the birth of Jesus Christ, in the month of June."

Athenodora grunted at the Christian time. She herself had lost track of the years since Greece's naissance, but she knew it was centuries older than the Christians dared to think.

Isabella tried not to notice Athenodora's disgruntled reaction. "I've been a vampire for 29 years, but I haven't aged a second," she said offhandedly, closing her eyes. "I can't accept that as easily as I should."

Athenodora gave her a sympathetic look but said nothing before disappearing into the trees. Isabella stood with her eyes closed, face tilted towards the sky. She heard the breeze rustling in the trees around her. She blew out a breath, causing her hair to fly across her face, and opened her eyes. The sun was glimmering on her skin, as though she were carved out of glass and set in a noble's palace by the fireplace, but so much more beautiful than even that comparison. It was more comparable to the king's precious jewels.

Jane approached her; Isabella could smell her distinct scent, one that combined lemon, fallen leaves, and cinnamon (a delicacy that none of the siblings ever tasted and one they no longer wanted to taste). The older girl felt her sister's arms wrap around her from behind.

"Is everything alright?" Isabella twisted around and smiled at her sister's question. Even though the other vampires found Jane mildly disturbing, to Isabella she was still the little sister that hated bathing and wanted to help her gather wood. "Yes, Jane, all is well," Isabella replied. The arms disappeared from her side and Jane appeared in front of her. Her eyes, once a baby blue but now a deep red, gazed into Isabella's. "Are you sure?" she asked.

Isabella gave her a partial smile. "Yes, Jane," she repeated. Jane frowned slightly but embraced her again before disappearing.

* * *

Alec stared at the sight from Caius's side. Two vampires stood in front of them, one male and one female. The male had darker skin that glistened like burnished metal in the sun rather than sparkling; the female appeared to be German, with the telltale blonde hair and piercing crimson eyes. Her skin glittered like the rest of them.

"There are more of us?" Alec whispered to Caius. The older man gave Alec an incredulous look. "Of course there are, silly boy," he growled. "Did you think we were the entire world?" Alec shook his head obediently. "Of course," Caius grumbled again.

"State your names and your purpose," Aro called out. The two outsiders exchanged amused glances.

"I am Santiago," the male intoned, "and this is Corin. We were once members of the Brandenburg coven."

Marcus raised an eyebrow. "Indeed? Weren't there at least five of you?"

Corin, the female, snarled slightly. "Yes, of course there were," she sneered. "They were burned. All that remains are the ashes."

Aro looked shocked, but Isabella could see from her place next to Marcus that he didn't particularly care. "Ah, really? How did that happen?" he asked.

"The Romanians tore their limbs off, stacked them high, and set the entire thing on fire, of course," Santiago responded. Caius looked morbidly interested now.

"And why are you here in England, then?" he rumbled. The two exchanged glances again.

"We wish to join your fight against the Romanians," Santiago said, raising his head. "They destroyed our lives, we wish to destroy theirs."

Aro glanced over to Chelsea, who immediately stretched out the tendrils again. The two vampires looked curious, but their expression became much more subservient in a matter of seconds. "Will you obey everything that I or my brothers tell you to do?" Aro demanded. "Will you willingly sacrifice your souls for a chance to please us?"

"Yes, master," they responded in unison. Isabella looked on with horror. She leaned over to Marcus and asked, "Are they bonded to him now?"

He slid his eyes over to meet hers and nodded minutely. She sniffed in disgust before calling her siblings to her. "Jane, Alec," she said, "let's go. We need to test out your strengths."

* * *

"No, Jane, not towards Alec!" Isabella called out. "Both of you try to hit me at the same time! I thought I told you!" She stretched her shield over her siblings again, feeling almost breathless as the invisible muscle trembled in protest against her will. Jane had insisted on the enlarged shield, just in case, but Alec was beginning to doubt whether it was necessary. "Again," she gasped out.

Jane looked doubtfully over at Isabella, but she directed her "pain," as she called it, to her sister. Isabella felt the spear of agony fly somewhat towards her before shattering on the shield.

"Very good, Jane," Isabella said, "but try to focus the pain. Aim it in one solid shape towards me."

Jane took another (unnecessary) deep breath and closed her eyes. She scrunched up her face slightly before letting out a burst of pain towards Isabella. The weapon shattered just like the first one did, but Isabella was elated.

"That was perfect, Jane!" Jane perked up at the praise. Her sister's eyes were shining, and Jane grew slightly more excited. Alec glanced towards his twin before asking, "Can I go now, then?"

Isabella chuckled. "Jane, stand back, then," she called out, redirecting her attention towards Alec. She nodded at her brother.

Alec raised a single hand to direct himself. "Alec, don't do that," Isabella called out. "You don't want your opponent to be able to guess when you will fight. You'll want at least some element of surprise."

Alec rolled his eyes. "It's not like mine is invisible like Jane's," he grumbled, but put his hand down. He stared intently at Isabella, trying to conjure up his gift.

A white, swirling mist hazily formed around Alec. It began to slowly make its way towards Isabella, who instinctively raised her shield slightly farther from her body. The mist seemed to hit some sort of wall before creeping up around the shield, accenting it.

"Okay, Alec, now take it down," Isabella called. Alec nodded before furrowing his eyebrows. The mist shimmered slightly but didn't completely disappear. "Alec?" Isabella asked haltingly.

He looked panicked. "I can't get rid of it!" he burst out, his normal calm façade breaking down. He looked at her fearfully.

Isabella gently shrank her shield back, much to Jane and Alec's dismay, but was able to walk through the mist without experiencing the blinding numbing that others did. "It's okay, Alec," she said with a sigh, patting his head. "We'll just have to try again."

They repeated the exercise, but this time, Alec seemed determined not to let his gift fly out of control again. The mist was much more transparent, but it was still shimmering in the light. Isabella could see it form around her shield again, but it faded when she commanded Alec to lower his weapon. Jane clapped giddily for her brother, and Alec looked much more relieved. Isabella was too happy to really say anything.

"Does this mean we're ready for war?" Jane asked Isabella. Immediately the older girl's expression fell. The twins watched as Isabella sighed briefly. "I don't think so," Isabella admitted. "We need to make sure you have all knowledge of your gift and how to use it."

"What does that mean?" Alec asked grumpily. Isabella gently ran her fingers through his hair; he smacked her hand away with a complaint and began to smooth it back down. "It means that Aro will want you to start testing out your gifts on others," she responded quietly.

"But we are!" Jane piped up. She pointed at Isabella. "We're testing them out on you."

"No, Jane," Isabella said. She looked at both twins intently before continuing. "He's going to want you to start testing your gifts out on people. On humans."

* * *

**DRAMATIC ENDING! This just sets up later action; sorry for the seemingly "filler" chapter. It's mostly to show off Chelsea's powers.**


	8. Reawakening: To The Land of the Sun

**Thanks for your reviews! Finals week is coming up, so I will probably not be as productive. Also I'm out of buffer chapters, so I'm going to be writing from scratch now. Sorry in advance.**

**RESPONSES:**

**Seras196: Thanks! I tried to make the fillers somewhat meaningful despite being fillers, just to keep up interest.**

**LVB (Guest): Well, this will be the last you see of this Edward, so you'll just have to wait and see :3 The mon/ma cheri/e thing was something I already knew but failed at, but most of the other things were created based around my three years of French class in high school. Also your English seems fine to me. The thing about nobles using French is a bit of trivia my European History teacher told me once, and I found it interesting enough to integrate into this story, especially because it's currently set in the Middle Ages. Also (I need to stop using this word) I used all of your corrections in the story, so thanks for that!**

* * *

Jane was enjoying the sunlight, for once. She didn't hate her life but knew it wasn't a very pleasant one. Despite her cold, seemingly sadistic exterior, she anguished when she saw her prey thrash in pain. She always tried to hide that emotion whenever she was around Aro, even if Isabella protected her mind.

Isabella. Her Isa. Her only sister, her only confidante in the entire world (except for Alec). The only one who would truly knew her for who she was. She was Jane, the little girl who hated insects so much she wanted to cause them bodily harm. The girl who was headstrong enough to challenge the other children, but stupid enough to do it without any backup. The one that Isabella had raised herself.

Jane loved Isabella; there was no doubt about it. Marcus had noted the bond that the three siblings shared, and Chelsea had confided to Jane that their bond couldn't be torn apart. Alec hadn't found this information very interesting—just one difference between the two twins. Jane couldn't stop thinking about this.

Of course, her meditation couldn't last for long. She felt a minute tap on her shoulder and leaped up from the ground, snarling.

Felix jumped back, a scared expression on his face. Unfortunately for him, Felix was usually asked to follow Jane around as she hunted. As a result, he saw her gifts first-person and had no intention of prodding her.

Jane smirked at his expression and pretended to gnash her teeth towards him. He snorted and ventured a step forward. "Jane, Master Aro wishes to speak to you."

Her smirk vanished. She let out her breath in a quick puff. _She channels her sister more every day,_ Felix thought to himself wryly.

"Why does he need me now?" Jane demanded, crossing her arms. Felix gave a nonchalant shrug. "Something about training," he said with a dismissive air. Jane harrumphed again before stalking off to find the one she was forced to call Master.

* * *

Jane stood in the clearing where she had woken up for the last time. Alec was making his way over to her; he stood rigidly next to her. He gave her a nod before standing perfectly still. Jane gave a sly smile before poking her brother.

Although he should have fallen over, had he been human, Alec merely glared at her sideways. He scoffed before taking one step away from her. Jane raised an eyebrow, and she slid next to him. Alec just moved over again; Jane fell into step beside him. Pretty soon, Alec had nearly reentered the forest with Jane right beside him.

Aro was watching them from the other side of the clearing, amusement glittering in his eyes. He chuckled before calling out, "Jane, Alec, stop fooling around, please."

The two siblings stood stock-still, but Jane just kept smirking at Alec. Alec blew out an annoyed breath. "Yes, Aro?" Jane asked faux-politely.

Aro stiffened. "Please, Jane, call me Master," he said. "I am not summoning Chelsea so I don't aggravate Isabella, but your cooperation is much appreciated."

Jane opened her mouth to retort in her usual callous manner, but Alec cut in, saying, "Of course, _Master_." He turned to his sister, who stared at him as though he had betrayed her. He probably had betrayed her, Alec thought grimly. He tried to give Jane a meaningful look. "We don't wish our sister any harm." Jane finally understood his implications.

"Why, of course you don't," Aro said smoothly. His face slid back into a tranquil smile that Jane wanted to punch out.

"The reason why I summoned you here, my dears, is to check on your progress. It's been quite a while since you have been changed, and I need to see how you have developed."

Jane grimaced slightly. She didn't want to inflict more pain on humans, even if it distracted them from the pain of having their life force drained from them.

Without warning, Caius rushed into the clearing. "Aro," he called out sharply. Aro looked at him with mild loathing; there were too many distractions for him to bear.

"I'm sorry that I'm intruding," Caius sneered, "but I caught wind of an Egyptian. One that you would want to join us."

Aro immediately became excited. "Yes, well?" he asked impatiently.

"Typical," Caius muttered. "Amun has apparently created a new one recently. He was approaching adulthood when he was turned a few decades ago. They have been working on his tracking abilities."

Aro nodded to himself slightly. "Well, we'll have to give our old _friend_ a visit, hmm?" he mused. Jane and Alec gave each other confused looks as they stood, forgotten by Aro. They each felt a hand on a shoulder and turned to see Marcus. Their sister's patron gently pulled back, directing them out of the clearing.

"What is going on, sir?" Alec asked. "No need for formalities; it's only Aro that has that odd superiority complex," Marcus corrected. "We are leaving England. Apparently a new treasure has cropped up. We don't have to change a human for this, though. He's already been turned."

Jane showed some interest in the speech. "We are leaving England for where?" she asked.

"Egypt, in Africa." The twins stared at him blankly. Marcus sighed. "Did Aro and Caius never give you geography lessons or something?" he said. "What's geography?" Alec asked curiously.

Marcus led the twins away, shaking his head. "I would have thought that those two would be somewhat competent at teaching you two _some_thing," he muttered.

* * *

Isabella glanced around. The land that her "coven," as Marcus called it, had gone to was arid and sunny, much to her dismay. England had been cloudy and somewhat humid, but it felt like home; this odd, new atmosphere was almost too much for her. Jane and Alec were just as uncomfortable, and their eyes darted everywhere as they tried to take the new land in.

Aro ushered the group into the shadows, away from the probing eyes of the humans. "Go into the dunes," he ordered. "Isabella, Chelsea, Alec, come with me. We are going to talk to our friend Amun."

The three guards quietly left their ranks. Jane stared at her siblings' backs desperately; this was the first time that she had been separated from them. Marcus felt her bond lure her towards Isabella and Alec and awkwardly laid his hand on her shoulder to prevent her from doing so. Jane looked at him helplessly, and he quietly guided her away. Isabella watched her sister walk away with a tortured expression. Alec whimpered beside her. He could feel his bond to his twin pulling him away, but the lure to his older sister was just as great.

Aro led the three guards over to a house that seemed to be made of mud. Chelsea seemed horrified; her previous life had stone or wooden homes, not this _peasant filth_. Alec and Isabella barely batted an eye, since they had lived in a similar home, although without the large windows that adorned the walls.

Their leader knocked on the door opening politely. Isabella could see shadows shifting unnaturally fast beyond the entrance and heard the harsh whispers too fast and too soft for human ears to detect. She knew that they were in foreign territory. "Alec, stay close," she breathed, and Alec nodded minutely. He didn't want to be caught unaware by a stranger.

A man with a darker skin tone hesitantly approached the group at the door. When his burgundy eyes locked onto Aro's, he immediately shifted into a defensive position and grimaced. "Aro," he said haltingly, still glowering at the vampire, "what brings you here?"

"Greetings, Amun," Aro said airily. "We hear that you have a new disciple. One from after you and Kebi fled from extinction along with Aahmas and Sati."

Amun's lip curled. "Yes, we did abandon our coven," he snarled, "but that does not mean you can walk all over us. Just because the others were weak does not mean that we are as well."

Aro held up his hands in a rather sarcastic gesture of surrender. "But, my _dear Amun_!" he cried out. "You misunderstand me greatly. All I want is to meet your student." Isabella snorted

Amun heard the noise and looked over the three others that accompanied Aro. "You have new students of your own," Amun said. "May I meet them first?"

"But of course," Aro purred. He shooed Chelsea to the back of the group and practically dragged Isabella and Alec to the front. "These are my newest treasures, Isabella and Alec. They are siblings, and they have one other sister, Jane. They have such wondrous powers, Amun, I'm sure you understand me," he practically gushed. Isabella cleared her throat in disgust and Alec gave a distasteful look towards Aro. Amun noticed these things with amusement.

"Another one, as well?" Amun asked. "Why is she not here?"

"Yes, Aro, why not?" Isabella cut in, raising an eyebrow. Amun approved of her rebellious nature, but Aro obviously didn't. Alec glanced back and forth uncertainly before suddenly whipping around and smiling. "We don't need to worry, Isabella," he responded in Aro's place, "for there she is."

Jane was walking with purpose through the shadows towards them. She bowed slightly to Aro despite not really wanting to. "Master Marcus asked me to come, sir," she said.

Aro grumbled. Marcus shouldn't have involved himself, but there was nothing he could really do about it now. "That's fine, dear." Aro turned back to Amun. "Well? Can we meet your student now?"

Amun nodded brusquely before waving all five of them inside. Once they were within the shadows, Isabella threw off the black cloak that was wrapped around her shoulders. "I hate that thing," she grumbled. Amun chuckled.

"Demetri," he called out, "come meet our guests."

A young man, possibly around eighteen when he was turned, came out of the hallway. He wore the traditional white tunic of a Greek, but had gold bangles characteristic of the Egyptian culture. His curious, bright red eyes perused the guests his maker had announced. "Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you," he said in a clipped tone.

Jane's eyes widened from beside Isabella. Alec noticed his twin's sudden change in mood and immediately knew what it meant. "Isa," he hissed urgently.

"I know, shush," she whispered back. Jane and Alec were already protected by her shield; this new feeling wasn't the newcomer's doing, but Jane's actual emotion.

Aro licked his lips. "Demetri, was it?" he stretched out a hand. Alarmed, Jane flashed a frantic look towards Isabella. The older girl quickly sent out a shield to protect Demetri a second before Aro grabbed his hand.

Amun watched Aro's expression turn from hungry and lustful to confused to annoyed. He dropped Demetri's hand quickly, much to the latter's confusion, and glared at Isabella. "It's not fair, master," she said (Amun noted the disrespect and boredom in her tone when she uttered the foul title) before sitting down. "He should be able to talk for himself, no?"

Aro nodded in a jerky manner. Demetri looked towards the siblings much more closely. Amun noticed as he stared at the younger girl with wide eyes; Amun knew that look.

Amun sighed in defeat. "Demetri, go with them." Aro raised an eyebrow. He had fully intended to persuade Demetri over, with Chelsea's help, but Amun was just conceding him?

The younger man swallowed as he glanced at his maker. "Are you sure, Amun?" he asked, a bit more hoarsely. Amun nodded. A woman walked out of the shadows; Isabella realized that she had been standing there the whole time. The woman had some sort of turquoise-golden jewelry that she carefully laid around Demetri's neck. The new necklace slid beneath Demetri's off-white clothing, and he nodded to the female vampire in thanks.

Isabella glanced towards Aro. At his insistence, she slowly tore her shield away from Demetri. She watched as Chelsea ensnared him and bound him to Aro, not as a servant, but as a guard. She watched as her sister's mate came to join their trio. She smiled in response to his nervous grin. Jane seemed to immediately welcome him into their small "family," and Alec nodded in approval.

The five vampires all wished Amun a farewell and left in the shadows from whence they came.

* * *

**A/N: I tried adding some Alec and Jane perspective to mix things up a bit. Demetri has joined the, ah, family and has become an integral part of the story. I'm not as solid on my Egyptian history as I am my European, so if you notice small discrepancies (or egregious ones) please let me know through a review or a PM, if you feel shy.**

**Reviews are a way for you to tell me if I need to improve anything or if I need to keep writing a certain way. Please use them to your heart's desire. (AKA If you review I will be happy.)**

**Thanks for reading! ~Shriayle**


	9. Reawakening: On Relationships

**Replies:**

**Guest and Zoe (Guest): Thanks for your support :)**

**LVB (Guest): I've been planning a lot of filler chapters, mostly because plot elements probably won't be too major until about halfway through this arc. The problem is that, even planning like this, the story's progressed extremely quickly. I tried to show how time doesn't matter at all, but for your (and anyone else's) curiosity, it's already around 1050-ish at the beginning of this chapter. I didn't want to show a noticeable difference in time, but Santiago and Corin joined around 950 and Demetri joined around 1050. Really, time doesn't matter too much. I am currently in my third (and final) year of high school history/social sciences; I took Government/Economics in ninth grade, US History in tenth, and European/World History this year. And to round out this incredibly long reply, I chose to give Demetri the gold because he was Greek xD According to the Wiki, at least, he was born in Greece, so I just imagined that Amun was less anal than Aro is going to be in this chapter about his culture.**

* * *

It was hard for Demetri to adapt to the Volturi lifestyle. His white tunic and other clothing were exchanged for black clothing, and Aro demanded from him his jewelry. This latter demand annoyed Demetri, and Jane protested as well. Isabella ended up having to keep the peace by forcing Demetri to compromise; he had to give up his clothing to keep some of the gold.

All three vampires accepted, although they were all a bit upset. Aro wanted to have his way and Demetri wasn't used to having to listen to a "master." Despite Isabella's attempts to calm her down, Jane practically exploded.

That was the day that Aro understood what Jane's power was.

"Demetri, please, just give them up," Aro said exasperatedly. He had already sent Chelsea to bring back black clothing and a dark grey cloak for his new recruit, but the vampire was refusing to take off his Egyptian outfit.

"I have used these clothes for centuries, sir," Demetri responded stiffly, "and I'd like to wear them for a few centuries more."

Alec looked towards Isabella helplessly. Isabella just shrugged and watched what happened.

Jane had run forward at the beginning of the argument. "Please, master, just let him keep his clothing," she begged.

"Run along, Jane, this doesn't concern you," Aro replied coldly. Jane's eyes widened.

"How doesn't it affect me?" she sputtered. "Proper grammar, Jane," Isabella called out. The younger girl gave her a death glare. Alec giggled next to Isabella, and Caius gave her a smirk.

Aro just rolled his eyes at their childishness. "Demetri, I insist. Remove your clothing," he snarled, shoving the dark clothing towards the other vampire.

Demetri's eyes flashed in anger. "You may be my master," he growled, "but you do not control my choices."

Jane looked back and forth between her master and her mate. "Demetri, don't extend this too far," she finally said dejectedly. Aro looked at Demetri triumphantly.

Demetri gazed at her again and sighed. "Fine," he grumbled, snatching the black clothing away.

The vampire disappeared for a few moments and returned dressed in the clothing Chelsea brought. He draped the charcoal grey cloak across his shoulders, scowling. The gold bangles he was still wearing glinted in the light. Aro raised an eyebrow. "Your jewelry, too, Demetri," he said softly, holding out a hand.

Demetri glared again before removing all of the thick gold bracelets. Aro frowned slightly. "Those three trinkets are jewelry, Demetri," he said.

Demetri's eyes widened. His hand flew towards the thin string that held three small charms. "No!" he sputtered. "These are actually meaningful, far more important than these things." He waved the tunic he had changed out of around.

Isabella felt Aro's temper slowly rise. She sat up a bit straighter, ready to intervene in any given situation.

"Explain," Aro said tersely.

Demetri gestured to the three charms around his neck. "This is the ankh," he said, showing the older vampire a symbol that looked like a loop on top of a T. "It stands for eternal life." He flicked it away and took out another symbol that looked almost like some sort of a tree. "This is the djed, symbolic of stability." He took out the last one, which resembled some sort of decorated hoop. "This is the sa; this is the one that Kebi just gave me." He stroked it thoughtlessly. "It represents her feelings of protection." He hid the golden charms under his cloak again. "These are more symbolic than these stinking cape-things, as well," Demetri grumbled.

Aro closed his eyes, looking more and more impatient. "Regardless," he hissed, "I want you to remove them and give them to me. Now."

Jane's eye color rippled from black to crimson to black again. She gave off an aura of pure hatred. "Isabella!" Alec said frantically. Isabella jerked forward just as Jane unleashed an arrow of pure pain towards Aro. In a flash, the ancient vampire was writhing on the ground, screeching. Demetri stared in fascinated horror at his mate's power, and Caius just began to laugh. He was amused by his brother's pain. _Disgusting,_ Isabella thought.

Jane's anger began to fade, and she looked on with mortification. _Did I do that?_ she thought to herself. She slowly took the pain away from Aro; the vampire was left retching as he crouched on the ground.

Isabella walked up and put her hand on Jane's shoulder. "Jane, why?" she asked with a sigh. Jane looked at her guiltily, but with an air of haughtiness. "He deserved it," she muttered. Isabella sighed again before pushing her towards Demetri gently. "Off with you two," she murmured. Demetri nodded slightly, still staring at Aro, and directed Jane towards the group of guards standing further away.

Isabella coldly watched as Aro regained his composure and stumbled onto his feet. "Just let him keep the amulets," she suggested before walking away. Alec quickly followed her, and Caius smirked at his brother as he walked over.

"That was a failure on your part," he said, snickering. Aro glared at him. Marcus walked up and just shook his head slightly. "You should have thought that through," he droned. The ancient vampires all just looked at each other.

"So, Jane's gift?" Marcus said, musing. Aro's eyes lit up. "Yes, that was very exciting," he said, thinking of the intense pain that had coursed through his dead veins. It felt as though every part of his being had been set on fire while being broken; not even that description was enough. The only thing more potent was transformation.

"It must be from the burning," Caius said offhandedly. "In that case, Isabella and Alec might develop gifts based on their own experiences being burned," Aro thought out loud.

Caius raised an eyebrow. "Alec has developed the power of numbing. You are sent to a world of no feeling. If he cast you into this world and you were torn apart and set on fire, you would feel nothing but a slight pinch on your body. He is very powerful."

"Isabella has a mental shield," Marcus said quietly, thinking of his disciple. "She constantly protects her siblings. Nothing can penetrate her will. It stems from her protective instinct. She ran into a fire to save her siblings, and this willpower manifested itself into a powerful barrier that can't be overcome."

It was Aro's turn to raise an eyebrow. "How did you two know that?" he asked.

"They showed us, of course," Caius said sardonically. "If you don't get Jane's trust, you'll be missing out on a lot."

Marcus and Caius walked away, leaving a thunderstruck Aro in their wakes.

Jane refused to apologize for her behavior. Whenever Aro approached her, she sent out a spike of pain that Isabella had to block. This continued for a few years before Isabella finally told Jane to "stop doing that, unless I need to direct it towards you next time." Demetri had glared at Isabella, but Jane had just laughed and agreed to stop.

Alec watched Jane and Demetri interact with one another. Suddenly, his sister wasn't dependent on him; she was mutually dependent on this new vampire. They seemed to complete one another. No one could make a mark in their relationship, just like the siblings'. Isabella had easily welcomed Demetri into their odd "inner" family apart from the rest of the coven, but Alec didn't accept him as readily.

"Alec, can't you just try to get along with Demetri?" Isabella asked after a particularly bad episode in which Alec refused to speak to Demetri, despite the latter's attempts.

Alec just gave the vampire in question a murderous glance. "I don't know, Isa," he replied after a time. "I just can't accept that Jane doesn't need me anymore, I guess." His eyes widened once he realized what he admitted.

"So, you're jealous?" Isabella asked. Alec merely crossed his arms and refused to respond. Isabella chuckled at his immature behavior.

"You'll get over it," she prophesized. He shrugged and stared at the two wistfully. Jane had climbed a tree and Demetri was pacing around its roots, staring up at her worriedly. "I don't know, Isabella," Alec said quietly before walking away slowly.

Isabella sighed, wishing that she could just help Alec with his envy. She watched as Jane dropped a branch onto Demetri's head and laughed at his semi-outraged response. Isabella was still smiling when she walked away to find the rest of the Volturi coven.

She found Santiago and Corin dueling, keeping their skills sharp. The two wove around one another as if in a mesmerizing dance to death or, in their case, destruction. Corin dove onto Santiago, wrenching his arm behind his back before kicking him away from her. He lurched forward but caught his balance and whipped back around, eyes aflame. Corin gave him a deranged smile before launching herself at him again, this time grabbing a leg. She flicked him onto his back before throwing herself on top of him and pummeling him until he howled out a surrender.

Isabella grinned at Corin's prowess. Corin looked up and nodded to Isabella. The brunette nodded back and kept walking.

_No matter how much my siblings mess up,_ she thought wryly, _they can't have a more dysfunctional relationship than that._

* * *

**Sorry about the short chapter this time, but there's a larger plot element for next time, and including it would make this chapter at least 5,000 words. I think. I'm not sure how long it will be yet, to be honest. **

**Please review with either grammar errors or criticisms! And praise. Any trolling will be deleted.**

**~Shriayle**


	10. Reawakening: Rising Sunset

**Replies:**

**alyssamcgrath: Alec still has that protective brother instinct, even if Jane is older by five minutes ;)**

**ArabellaWhitlock: Thanks! Jane has an explosive temper, to say the least.**

**Unknown Words: Alec won't be too poor for long :P**

**LVB (Guest): Alec's opinion of Demetri should get better. Eventually. About the movie/school thing, I'm not too sure which movies you might be thinking about. Each school can be different; even in just the school districts in California are different. My school, for example is on a modified block schedule, in which we have three classes every day and rotate between four classes every other day (two per day). However, other schools are on traditional, which is just six to seven classes every day. Finally, my school doesn't use lockers, but many schools give their students lockers. It really depends which school you go to here in America :)**

**Also, I put up a poll about Isabella's mate. While I'm not too concerned about giving her a "significant other," you guys seem to want to give her one. Go vote for your favorites, and if you have one you want to be considered, let me know and I'll put him/her up. (Yes it can be a girl, Isabella can be pansexual for all I care.)**

* * *

A man, well-dressed as a lord should be, was wandering in the forest. Isabella silently padded closer, her eyes glistening, when she stopped abruptly. The man's scent was tainted with another's; he had brought a girl, maybe around 14, with him. They had a distinctly Mediterranean look about them, but then again, she wasn't sure quite where they were. Maybe they were near the coast in Aro's Italy.

The girl glanced around. Isabella wondered if she had picked up on another presence. Isabella tried to approach the two, but she felt herself repelled away. She quickly strengthened her mental shield with additional layers to combat the physical repulsion. _Odd_, she thought. _What an interesting gift. Maybe they're looking for Aro or something._

Isabella quietly followed them. The girl seemed nervous and kept glancing around, as if hoping to catch some sight of an intruder. When Isabella realized that they were within Jane's reach, she intercepted their path. The two others froze when they saw a third vampire appear from the woods.

"Who are you?" The man asked in an almost imperial manner. The girl's eyes widened and she backed away slightly. Isabella bowed her head slightly.

"Isabella of the Volturi, pleasure to meet you," she said. The man's eyes widened. "Can you take us to Aro?" he blurted out. Isabella raised an eyebrow. "You wouldn't mind telling me who you were, would you?" she asked in response.

"I am Luca," the man said, "and this is Renata. We need, ah, _protection_, if you will."

Isabella appraised the man. He seemed to know Aro on a non-Master basis, and that was good enough for her. "Indeed?" she said softly. She stared at Renata; the girl looked as though she would have blushed if she could.

"Follow me," Isabella said suddenly. She turned around and dashed through the woods, hearing Renata and Luca follow her. Just before entering the clearing the rest of the Volturi called "home," she stopped short.

"Renata, you'll have to turn your shield off," Isabella said, giving her an apologetic look. "If Aro can't approach you, there's no telling what he'll do."

"He lets you call him Aro?" Luca asked. Isabella smirked. "Who's to say that I listen to him?" she responded airily. Renata gave a nervous laugh, and Isabella smiled much more genuinely at her.

The three entered the clearing. Immediately, Alec and Jane appeared next to Isabella. "Isa, who is this?" Jane asked, sounding a bit rude.

"Jane, hold on," Alec said, not looking at the newcomers. "The master probably wants to see them." He bowed to the two vampires, not even looking them in the eyes as he usually would. "Welcome," he said quietly.

Isabella placed a hand on his shoulder and gripped it gently. "Can you get the master, Jane?" she requested. Jane rolled her eyes but grabbed Demetri's hand and ran off with him to fetch the elder vampire. Isabella gave yet another apologetic look to Luca, who chuckled in response. Renata merely gripped his hand tighter.

Jane returned with Aro, Demetri following them. "Luca, my friend!" Aro sang out, floating over to hug him. Luca gave a rather mortified look at the sudden embrace.

"Aro," he said stiffly. Aro released him, and Luca turned to Renata. "This is my grand-niece, Renata," Luca said. Aro nodded slowly. "She has a talent, one that you will like."

Renata glanced back at Isabella. "Can I turn it on now?" she whispered. Isabella smiled and nodded reassuringly. Renata let out a shaky breath before allowing her repulsion to appear. Immediately, Luca and Aro seemed to be pushed away from the two women. Aro's eyes glistened hungrily.

"What is this sorcery?" he asked, wonder in his voice. "My dear Renata! Please, come over here!"

Renata approached him, eyes to the ground. "She is still in the newborn stage," Luca explained, "but she has perfected her self-control. I thought you could protect her from the Romanians for me."

"But Uncle Luca," Renata whimpered, trying to reach back to him. Luca stepped out of her rapacious reach.

"I can't survive without Pina, Aro," Luca said softly. He began to back away, shaking his head slowly, Renata struggling to get to him. "But," he said haltingly, "I couldn't leave my darling Renata on her own, either. I have to rejoin my mate, but make sure my family is safe. Please, my friend. Help me."

Aro nodded solemnly. "May your descent be good for you," he intoned. Luca nodded before brusquely running off, crashing through the forest.

Renata's shoulders shook in spasms. Isabella felt the girl sob without tears next to her. She felt a pair of watching eyes.

Alec was watching the two of them, his eyes filled with sympathy. Isabella beckoned him over. "Help her, will you?" she whispered. Alec muttered an agreement before gently taking her arm and pulling on it. Her head whipped up and for the first time they locked eyes.

Isabella smiled as she watched her brother's expression morph. _He won't be jealous of Demetri anymore,_ she thought in amusement as she watched Alec guide Renata into the woods, perhaps to talk, perhaps to hunt, but definitely to heal her broken heart.

The next sunrise, Alec had convinced Renata to meet Jane and Demetri. Although the Maltese vampire trusted what Isabella said about Jane's fun-loving attitude (to put it lightly) and Demetri's down-to-earth nature, she wasn't sure about actually talking to them. However, with Alec's pleading, she finally agreed to talk to Jane _just this one time_, as she insisted.

Renata was playing with a strand of her dark hair when Jane approached. Jane had recently decided to get rid of her long hair; she wanted it short enough to prevent others from being able to grab it, as she so eloquently described. Demetri was right beside her. His broad body and height only dwarfed Jane more, but they seemed to go well together because of that. The two milled about a few feet away from Alec and Renata, partially to be polite, partially because Renata was repelling them unknowingly.

Renata glanced at Alec nervously. She was a petite vampire, slightly shorter than Jane, and her stature made her feel all the more vulnerable. She took a deep breath to steady herself before tentatively dropping her shield.

Jane bounced over and hugged Renata. "So you're the one that my brother's been absolutely smitten with," she chirped. Renata looked startled at the statement and Alec looked rather embarrassed. Demetri chuckled.

"Y-yes, I suppose so," Renata replied. Alec grinned at her reassuringly, and she gave him a smile in response.

Jane smirked. "Ah, young love," she said, sighing.

"What is there to say about you and Demetri, then?" Alec shot back.

"Well, it's been millions of sunrises since I met him, now, hasn't it?" Jane retorted, and the twins fell into one of their practically daily arguments. Renata looked on in amusement.

"Forgive them, they'll be done soon enough," Demetri said with a sigh. Renata giggled. Demetri gave her a half-smile before holding his hand out. "In case you didn't know, I'm Demetri. Jane's mate." Renata's eyes widened. She had forgotten about that…

Mate. M-a-t-e. A being so perfectly suited to you that you could trust them almost instinctively. And apparently, hers was this other twin. Alec. He seemed so right for her, knowing when to stop pushing and when to insist (gently, mind) on having his way. She had heard of his power, the power to rid the body of all senses, the intensity of his numbing ability, but she also knew, somehow, that he would never use it on her. She knew this in the same way she knew that she could not help but protect him with her shield, a shield that only the most powerful of other shields could repel. Isabella, the mental shield, the sister of the twins.

Renata trusted Isabella in a heartbeat. The older girl just seemed to emanate calm, which could both relax her fiery sister and relieve her icy brother's countenance. She was the mother to their family, yet also still but a child. After Alec had claimed Renata as his, Isabella had readily accepted her into their rather dysfunctional family.

Renata laughed along with Demetri's jibes towards the quarreling twins. She noticed Isabella standing some distance away and gave her a happy grin. Isabella returned the smile and came over to join the rest. Renata shifted over slightly and then had to readjust her new cloak. It was as black as Isabella's, and as black as Jane's and Alec's, Renata realized. Demetri's was a couple shades lighter.

"Isabella?" she asked. The vampire in question looked at her and cocked her head slightly. "Yes, what is it?" "What do these cloaks stand for?"

Isabella blew a breath out of her mouth. "Well, they stand for rank." Renata's eyebrows furrowed. What?

"The darker the cloak, the more Aro values your skill. He loves us siblings, and your gift is singular enough for him to value it more than pure gold," Isabella explained. Renata nodded slowly. "What does Demetri lack that we have, then?" she asked.

"Well, for one, you're pretty subservient," Jane said, butting into the conversation. Isabella shot her a scathing look, but the blonde just shrugged. "What? It's true." Jane poked Renata's stomach, making the younger vampire giggle a bit. "We don't call him master. We weren't raised to depend on an adult. But Ren here was raised by that Luca guy, it seems, and he transferred quote-en-quote 'lordship' to Mr. Obsessive there."

Alec rolled his eyes. "I'd appreciate your treating my mate more respectfully, sister," he muttered. Jane shot him an open-mouthed smile, to which Demetri merely shook his head, shoulders shaking in silent laughter.

Isabella smiled at the twins' conversation. It was slowly inching towards the idea of testing out their powers on another vampire. "Not Felix again, Jane," Isabella added. The blonde scowled. "It was just a _joke_…" she grumbled.

Demetri noticed Renata's confused look. "Jane threatened Felix by saying that she would torture him until he brought her some dinner," he explained dryly. "Of course, Felix said no, and Jane pretended to inflict pain on him until he ran off frantically. I had to smooth things over, as usual."

Jane smirked again. "All in a day's work, darling," she purred. Isabella just rolled her eyes. _Of course,_ she thought.

* * *

**One final note about the story: Renata is canon-20, but to me her actions fit those of a 14-year old better. So.**

**Two more things: first, I apologize for these shorter chapters. Trying to cram in backstory and stuff is difficult to expand on.**

**The second is that I need someone to read these chapters over. For the first five or so, I spent quite a few days reading them over, tweaking them here and there, but I have no more time for that. It can even be a guest, I just need an email address or something to communicate with you. The bottom line is that I need another person to just read the chapters over and maybe offer ideas for filler or for dialogue or something. That is all.**

**Thanks for your support! ~Shriayle**


	11. Reawakening: Protectors

**The more that I look at it, I wonder if "Witchcraft" is even an appropriate title for this fanfic. I'll look for a better one later, I guess.**

**Replies:**

**To all of you who said you loved the story so far: Thank you from the bottom of my heart :)**

**ArabellaWhitlock: I'll consider your idea! Although I'm uncertain about Marcus/Isabella. That kinda creeps me out, but that's just because I know what's going to happen next in the plot anyhow so :P**

**storyme: I'm flattered :D I can honestly say that while I liked the Twilight world, I hated the plot. It just felt overall really inane. So this is me supercharging it with my own flair. Also, I'm not sure whether to label this story as a romance. Then again, I just put supernatural in an archive of vampire stories -_- I'm not sure how to classify it. I might update that later.**

**megan (Guest): The main plotline of the Twilight series will still be in play, just with another human instead of Isabella. So Edward/Isabella will never happen. (sorry if you wanted it to, if anyone else is reading this) Two mates? I'm not sure about that xD My original intention was to not give Isabella a mate bond, but a familial bond to Jane and Alec, so that kinda counts, although I'm revising that now. Who knows.**

**Thanks for your support :3**

* * *

Marcus drifted through the forest. It had been centuries since they had started living in the forest, and it was just getting too boring. The constant trees and shadows bored him even more.

Caius was walking by and gave him a glance before smirking and striding away purposefully. Even Caius had a purpose. After Didyme died, Marcus had lost his purpose.

The only thing that kept him extant was Chelsea's bond. That is, until the siblings entered the guard.

The siblings were an odd trio. Jane and Alec would have been born wild and dangerous if they didn't have Isabella to calm them down, mellow them out. The twins were completely loyal to Isabella, more loyal than they were to any of the Original Trio. However, they each served a different brother while being protected by Isabella's barrier.

Isabella piqued Marcus's interest, and she was the reason for him to live now. He felt a fatherly affection for the brunette, and while he didn't involve himself too much with her, he was always observing how she acted with her siblings. He had been slowly using her tactics with his own brothers. To his delight, it worked surprisingly well; Aro and Caius were beginning to notice him again, to let him be the deciding factor. Marcus was regaining power, thanks to his unknowing apprentice.

The aforementioned vampire had just crossed his path as he walked through the trees. She hesitated a bit before bowing her head slightly. "Good morn, Master Marcus," she chirped. _She doesn't refer to Aro as Master_, Marcus thought with amusement. If Aro saw this exchange, it would be a major thorn in his pride.

Marcus returned the formal gesture. "Good morn to you as well, Isabella," he responded a bit more quietly than she. "Have you seen Jane around? She asked for me earlier, when I was busy, but now that I'm free, she's nowhere to be seen," Isabella said. Marcus shook his head. Isabella smiled briefly before walking off in search of her wayward sibling.

Isabella found Jane alone, for once. It was the first time Isabella had seen her without Demetri around. "Jane," Isabella called; the girl whipped around violently. Upon catching sight of Isabella, her eyes lit up. "Isa!" she called back, flitting over to her sister's side. Isabella ran her hand through Jane's short hair. Jane rolled her eyes.

"Not this discussion again," she complained loudly. Isabella cracked a smile and shook her head.

"No, Jane, not that discussion again." A glimmer of golden light at the base of Jane's throat caught Isabella's attention. "What's that, sister?"

Jane's hand flew up to her neck, and after a moment of hesitation, the younger girl showed her sister. Isabella gasped slightly. "Isn't that one of Demetri's amulets?" she asked.

Jane nodded, her fingers tracing the intricate pattern carved onto the ankh. "He gave it to me a few sunrises ago," Jane murmured lovingly. Isabella embraced her sister, flooded with sympathetic happiness. Jane hugged back just as enthusiastically.

Alec burst in on the scene. He patiently waited for them to notice him. Jane shrieked in mock surprise upon seeing him, for she had detected his soothing lemony honey scent the moment he walked in. "Brother!" she pretended to whine. Alec snickered softly.

Isabella watched them squabble once again, shaking her head with a smile on her face. "You two haven't gotten any better since we were changed, have you?" she murmured to herself as Jane and Alec poked each other with sticks and wrestled across the clearing.

* * *

Later, Jane and Alec reunited with their mates to spend some quality time with them. Isabella had just let them go with a motherly smile before enjoying her solitude. Many thought that, after her siblings "outgrew" her protection, she would grow lonely, but in actuality she treasured her peace. Isabella relished being able to think without being interrupted by the twins, as much as she loved them. She lay on her back, staring at the stars through a myriad of branches, all alone. Or, at least, that's what she thought.

"They are nice, aren't they?" Isabella twisted her neck around to see Chelsea standing at the edge of the clearing, smiling faintly. "Isn't Afton looking for you?" Isabella asked vaguely. Chelsea shrugged in reply before plopping herself down next to Isabella. "He probably will be, the protective fool. I'm alright by myself, thank you very much," she said.

"I don't doubt that you are." Chelsea nodded in appreciation of the veiled compliment and the two stared at the stars.

"Look at them," Chelsea breathed. Isabella gave no sign of hearing her, but Chelsea knew that she had. "They're just little pinpricks of light, scattered in the sky. No one knows where they're from or how they got there. And the moon, largest of them all, said to be perfect. We are made to be as perfect as the moon, they say, not the werewolves."

Isabella gave Chelsea a startled look. "You speak of the Children of the Moon as if they were real," she said. Chelsea chuckled. "I assure you, they are very much real, Isabella," Chelsea said. Isabella's eyes widened slightly; she didn't want to meet one of the vampire's worst enemies. "However, Caius sent us all after them to tear them apart. The werewolf saliva cannot stand the venom of a vampire. We were sent to bite them and watch them howl in pain before their blood vessels ruptured and they were left a mess on the ground."

Isabella was much more unnerved by this serene woman now. "You don't say," she muttered. Chelsea gave her a dreamy smile. "I speak the truth, child," she said gently. She turned her crimson eyes back up to the sky. "Ah, look, there's Ursa Major and Ursa Minor," she said, pointing at the two constellations. "My people came up with the stories behind them. You would call those stories pagan, but I called them religion, once upon a time."

Her companion gave no sign of hearing once again. Chelsea kept quietly speaking, her slightly disjointed expression never leaving her face. "A mother was turned into a bear by Hera, queen of gods, for mothering Zeus's son. The king of the gods was never very, ah, fidelous. Is that the word?"

"Try 'faithful,'" Isabella suggested. Chelsea just waved her hand in a dismissive manner.

"Yes, that sounds about right. Anyhow, shortly after giving birth to a baby boy, the woman was cursed to become a bear. She had no idea how to be a bear, and she ended up foraging few berries and having to survive on carrion. She grew skinny, and her fur grew mangy. One day, she decided to try stealing a hunter's trapped prey. It had been only a couple of years since she was turned, and she had barely survived the winter. She snuck up and grabbed the meat away, but in turning away, she noticed a green figure shifting in the forest. After eating quickly, she followed the thing, which we know now was a dryad, a tree nymph.

"The nymph tried to chase the bear away, for she was guarding a boy that the great king of the gods Zeus himself had given her flock of trees." "There's no such thing as a flock of trees." "There is now. Anyways, the mother bear became hopeful, and she pushed the dryad away to see the boy. And, clear as daylight, there stood a small child that had her human eyes and human hair. It was her son. She had to run away afterwards, but she cried tears of joy at seeing her baby again.

"More years passed. The bear learned how to be a bear. One day, she was snuffling about in new areas of forest when a hunter came upon her. Unbeknownst to him, he was the grown child of the bear he decided to hunt. He strung his bow tautly and taken an arrow." At this, Chelsea gestured to a group of stars that were near the constellation she had earlier deemed Ursa Major. "And he carefully bent behind a bush while uttering prayers to the gods Apollo and Artemis to make sure his arrow did not fail him. This was the first bear he had ever seen in the woods. As he crouched, the bear heard the noise and turned to see what it was. She was happily shocked to see that it was her son, a boy of now 198 moons, that's about 16 years 6 months I believe, but was horrified that he was aiming at her.

"She let out a distressed cry, a screech that made the hunter hesitate. It sounded so agonized, so upset, that he couldn't shoot for a few seconds as he regained his thoughts. Zeus heard her distress calls and saw the hunter, and quickly intervened again by turning the hunter into a younger bear. In shock, the younger bear screeched himself, and the mother lumbered over to check on him. They communed with one another, and the young bear picked up him bow and arrows before following his mother into the woods.

"Hera had learned of her husband's doings and, enraged, took the bears by their tails and swung them around into the sky, elongating the tails as she did so. Zeus hastily turned them into constellations so they wouldn't die; in the process, the bow was also stuck in the canopy of night. However, Hera got the last laugh, because she made a deal with the sea god Poseidon to make the constellations perennial. They could never go below the horizon to rest. And Zeus could not do any more for this lover, for by now he had already acquired another one."

There was a moment of silence as Isabella took in the story. Chelsea smirked. "The end," she sang out softly.

"Did that story have an actual point?" Isabella asked exasperatedly.

Chelsea thought about it before shrugging. "Don't anger a wrathful goddess? Don't have sex with a god? There is really no main message for the story. It's just something to explain the reason for the stars."

Isabella made a noncommittal sound. Chelsea got up, readjusted her cloak, and patted Isabella's shoulder slightly before moving away. Isabella was left by herself again, lying on the ground, lost in her thoughts.

* * *

Isabella was drilling Renata on her physical fighting skills. Jane and Alec had already gotten lessons from their sister, and they had insisted that she teach their mates as well. Renata wasn't taking well to the lessons, but Demetri seemed to be a natural. After a few increasingly dangerous bouts with him, Isabella had sent him off to fight with Felix. The two were having a good time, it seemed, because Isabella could hear trees being uprooted violently and branches splintering off of trunks.

Renata whimpered to herself. She couldn't fight! She had no offensive ability, and whenever someone approached her, she just deflected them away, anyways. Isabella had been trying to show her how someone could get under her shield, somehow, and possibly get to her, but Renata had just sent out another shield. Finally, Isabella gave up.

"You know what, just tell Aro that you will shield him. That ought to make him shut up about making me teach someone who's unwilling to fight," Isabella relented. Renata had given her a grateful, apologetic smile before darting off to find Aro.

Isabella went to see how Demetri was doing. She had to abruptly duck when Felix's fist suddenly appeared in her vision.

"Oh my God, Isabella! I'm so sorry that you had to do that," Felix said. Demetri chuckled from behind him before grabbing Felix's arms, wrenching them backwards, and flinging him across the clearing. "That's what you get for messing with my family!" Demetri called after him. Isabella shook her head at his childish actions. "Did Jane teach you that?" she dead-panned. He gave her a mischievous smile.

"I saw the charm, by the way." Demetri froze at her words. He turned slowly, his crimson eyes turning harder and more clouded, somehow. He seemed a bit scared, somehow. "It was a nice gesture. I liked it," Isabella quickly added. Just as suddenly, his eyes softened and grew bright again. "Do you really think so?" he asked, but she couldn't reply, as Felix had kicked Demetri's leg out from underneath him. Demetri sprang back up like some sort of cat and threw himself back into the fight. Isabella chuckled and walked away. _Men_, she thought with a derisive snort.

Isabella walked on until she found Aro. Renata had found him before Isabella had, and she was discussing something with the old vampire. His eyes were gleaming with lust as he carefully stroked Renata's hair out of her face. The girl was cringing away from his grasp.

Isabella nonchalantly walked up to the pair when she was blocked. "Renata, can I come in?" she called out. Renata looked up at her with happy eyes but glanced over at Aro. The other vampire was frowning slightly. "This is a private gathering," he called out stiffly. Renata felt herself shrink into her cloak. Noticing the slight action, Isabella tried to walk towards the barrier again to no avail.

Aro smirked before bending down over Renata once more. "Now, my sweet," he cooed when Renata let out a shriek. Immediately, Isabella was by her side, cradling the girl against her chest.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't know that would happen, I'm sorry…" Isabella whispered into Renata's ear. The other vampire whimpered, clutching her head. Soon, her pained squeaks receded.

"Isabella, what did you just do?" Aro asked, not out of concern for Renata, but out of morbid curiosity. Isabella shot him a look. "I tried to take down her shield," she said impassively. "It worked."

"Why would that be painful?" Aro asked.

"Imagine someone carefully digging their fangs into your head and peeling layer upon layer off as slowly as possible." Aro winced at the imagined pain. If Isabella had managed to do that to Renata, what other damage could she do? "How long have you known that you can do that?"

"Long enough." Isabella grimaced. "It was a lucky guess. I just made an opening small enough for myself to slip through, but if I forced the entire shield to shut down…" She looked down helplessly at Renata, who was still in the fetal position. "It might drive anyone insane from the pain."

"Would humans be any less affected?" Aro asked. "I don't think so," Isabella said, pondering. Her typical disgust towards Aro was completely gone as she discussed this finding with him like some sort of professor. "All minds are the same; after all, the vampire venom only seems to make the rest of our mind available for use. I'm sure that the humans would feel the same pain that Renata had to. They'd probably feel just as relieved when I rebuild their shields, as well."

Aro closed his eyes. "The Romanians have a shield…" he murmured. "Vladimir's wife. She is one of their key masterminds. But she had a mental shield, not as powerful as yours, but strong enough that Jane, for example, would not be able to affect her. You could pull off the shield and Jane or Alec could incapacitate her… then the rest of the coven…"

Isabella didn't hear the rest. She was still curled up with Renata, whispering apologies, as Aro walked away, still musing aloud.

* * *

**Some final notes relating to this chapter: fidelous is not a real word, it's Chelsea's odd direct-translation-thing gone wrong.** **The story she told is a Greek myth, but the added thing about the bow is my addition, as well as a few of the minor details. For example, the bear and the hunter probably have names, but I was too lazy to find them, so they're just the bear and the hunter. Finally, the last bit with Renata is rather obvious foreshadowing; at least, it's obvious to me. If you think you know what it's for, review, because I'm curious about your imaginations :)**

**Also, I will be gone for a couple of weeks as my family is traveling to the other side of the country. I will be back by July 5, and hopefully have written a few more chapters on the plane out of sheer boredom.**

**Thanks for reading! ~Shriayle**


	12. Reawakening: Time Passes

**I had some time while in the car to write more :D Yay for three hour road trips!**

**Replies:**

**alyssamcgrath: Um, it's been explained here. I felt very uncomfortable writing that, to be honest xD But yeah, he's a little bit of a creeper in that. Sorry.**

**Arabella Whitlock: Thanks! That section is ultra foreshadowing, so be ready to see it back again ;)  
**

**Pixistxs: Well, she still has companionship, but I see what you mean. If you haven't yet, just go vote for a possible mate on my profile. I'm still not sure whether I should give her one, but I'm willing to consider it.**

**Calista (Guest): Thanks! It's not quite July yet, but here's a new chapter :3**

* * *

Sulpicia stormed out of the forest. How _dare_ her mate try something like that with a guard?! A lowly guard! She shuddered at the thought of _seducing_ someone like Felix.

"Aro!" she shrieked out. The vampire turned slowly, as if expecting her. "Sulpicia, my darling," he called out in a saccharine tone. Sulpicia scowled, feeling the falseness of his voice. "What is it, my beauty?" Aro asked in the same tone.

"I hear tell that you were speaking to Renata in an unfounded way," Sulpicia began, but Aro swept her up in an embrace. "Continue on," he purred; her undead heart would have drowned out any other noise had it been able to beat. Since it really couldn't, she just froze for a split second before recovering.

"W-what I was saying was that you can't treat your guards like that," she stuttered out. Aro stroked her hair lovingly. "Like what, my sweet?" he whispered. She shivered in pleasure, but wasn't distracted at all.

"Like prostitutes," she said coldly. Aro swept away from her, his eyes surprised and somehow a little bit scared. "Oh yes, I heard," she snarled, stalking Aro as if he was her prey (he ruefully remembered how long it had been since they hunted together. He forced himself to snap out of it; that wasn't the proper thought to have right now).

"Isabella told me all about it," Sulpicia hissed, "how she found you in a clearing, _touching_ Alec's mate in an uncalled for way! Isabella told me how you talked to her softly, how she cringed away from your hand, how she was forced to shield everyone else away!"

"Did she tell you that I was trying to make Renata's ability affect me, within her shield?" Aro asked in a clipped tone. Sulpicia's eyes flew open in shock.

"I thought that if I, ah, _bothered_ her, she would develop additional layers underneath her main shield, the way that Isabella does. I wanted to test the range of her shield. I did not want her." Suddenly, Aro was right in front of her. "I want you," he said softly.

Sulpicia knew that she shouldn't trust him so quickly, but it was hard to resist his strong arms, his lips on her own. She melted against him, deepening their embrace, but once they pulled away from each other, she leaned in once more. "I won't forget this," she whispered before turning and disappearing into the shadows, Aro staring after her wistfully.

Sulpicia walked through the forest, her mind racing. What Isabella had said was completely true; she never doubted the brunette, no matter how aloof she was. However, her heart never let her think against Aro. In frustration, Sulpicia let out a scream and punched a tree, uprooting it and knocking it into another. She stared at the fallen plant.

"Was that necessary, sister?" Athenodora carefully made her way over the tree and next to Sulpicia. The latter vampire sighed before sitting down upon her destructive creation. "I don't know, Athena," she said exasperatedly, holding her hands up. "Is anything necessary?"

"Oh, look at that, Sully's finally getting deep," Athenodora cooed mockingly. Sulpicia shot her a look. "Why are we friends again?" she asked.

Athenodora smirked at her discomfort. "Because our mates are brothers," she sang out, patting Sulpicia's head (complete with a pouting face) before getting up and dancing away.

* * *

Isabella wandered through the forest. It's been almost four centuries since we've been changed, she mused. The sheer enormity of that time period was practically insane, for a human mind. As mortal beings, humans were given maybe 40 years at best to live; as immortal beings, vampires were given until the world crumbled to dust and was no more, and maybe even after that they would continue to exist. The four hundred-odd years seemed like a fortnight to Isabella. The days were practically minutes for them (or the sunrises, as Aro so adamantly called them). There was no point in measuring things in days anymore, even. The most important days of a vampire's life was already imprinted on their lives, like the day you meet your mate and the day you meet your coven.

Her musing led to her meandering through the trees at breakneck speeds. Whenever her mind decided to wander, she would unknowingly react physically. The faster she thought, the faster her feet traveled. And the less she paid attention.

"Oof!" She had run into something hard. She glared up and Caius glared back at her. She had sprinted headlong into the most disagreeable vampire possible. _Brilliant_, she grumbled to herself.

"Good afternoon, Caius," she said, her outward expression blank while she glared at him inwardly. He raised an eyebrow. Despite what his brothers thought, Caius did indeed have a sort of special gift. He was able to sense anger and violence within others, despite not being very good at it. He could basically only know that someone was distressed. Since practically everyone that ever lived was always angry at something, Aro didn't think that his ability was special. This time, Caius could feel the roiling waves of pure rancor radiating from Isabella. He immediately grew wary.

"What, no 'Master'?" he asked wryly. Even if she was acting violently, that didn't mean that he couldn't be caustic, though he knew that he might be signing a death wish.

Isabella glared at him for a while before realizing that he was much more lighthearted than she thought and was attempting to make a joke. She relaxed slightly before sighing.

"Sorry about bumping into you," she muttered. He cocked an eyebrow. "You're apologizing?" he teased. She pouted slightly to herself. "Maybe," she muttered again.

"What were you thinking about so carefully that you weren't paying attention to your surroundings, Isabella?" Caius asked. She shrugged. "Immortality, mostly," she admitted. Caius chuckled.

"Oh, that old thing? The whole 'we will never die of natural causes' thing? Calm down about that. You will get used to it."

"I've had four hundred years to get used to it, Caius," Isabella said, rolling her eyes. If it had been any other guard's action, Caius would probably have his/her head. Since it was one of the siblings, he condoned it. He was rather partial to them, especially their constant, albeit somewhat petty revolts from Aro.

"It took me four hundred more than that," he admitted. Before she could give him a skeptical look, he had walked away, leaving only crushed leaves in his wake.

* * *

Jane was dragging Demetri behind her as they walked through the forest. "Come on, Demi!" Jane squealed. She pulled on his hand again. Demetri sighed to himself as she nearly took his arm off. "Jane, I'm going to be in five pieces if you keep tugging like that," he drawled. She immediately let go with a guilty expression. "I'm so sorry!" she cried out in horror.

_Oh, scarabs_, Demetri thought as her face crumpled slightly. "No, Jane, I didn't mean it like that," he said frantically. Isabella had gone off somewhere, and he really didn't want to feel Jane's 'pain', especially after Felix's horror stories. He shuddered, imagining having to feel fire through his veins. Jane gave a petulant little sniff, which prompted Demetri to take a tentative step forward to comfort her.

She glared at him scathingly before leaping into his arms, much to his surprise. When she looked at his face again, she was smirking slightly. "Silly Demetri," she sang out. "Nothing you say can hurt me." Demetri laughed aloud at his short-sightedness and her cunning. Jane smiled at the musical sound.

"Of course not," he said, embracing her further. She sighed in happiness as the two of them curled up around each other, right next to a yew bush. She looked over at the thorny branches.

"Look, the berries are in season," she said, reaching out for one of the red fruits. She snagged one in her hand. Demetri glanced over at a bunch of them. They shimmered in the sunlight, their skins the same shade of red as Jane's eyes. He picked a branch of them and swiftly wove them into a wreath. She only had time to look at him curiously before he placed the branch on her head like a circlet. He carefully adjusted her pale-brown hair around it.

She felt the wreath, its prickly thorns, its green leaves, its round scarlet berries. "Why did you do that?" she asked in bewilderment.

He just smiled at her. "Now they're even more beautiful," he said. She glowed at the veiled compliment and snuggled closer to him.

"Did you have yew berries in Greece?" she asked curiously. He shook his head slightly. "Not really," he admitted. "We had olive bushes and laurel wreaths, but neither of those are as colorful, to be honest."

Jane fingered her circlet again. "It's just sort of ironic that I'm wearing this," she said with a smirk. He gave her a confused look. She responded to his unasked question, "If ingested, these berries can be fatal to mortals."

Demetri let out a noise of realization. "But we can't die," Jane continued as if he was silent. "It's ironic."

They were both quiet in the silence that resulted. Jane closed her eyes. There was a mockingbird singing in the distance. The bird was singing his heart out, singing the song of the sparrows. They didn't make their own melodies, but took others' melodies and changed them to...beautify them? She wasn't really sure.

"We are the melodies and the mockingbirds," Demetri said in a low voice, as if hearing her thoughts. "We were the melodies sung by sparrows, once, when we were mortal. The mockingbird bit us and changed us, giving us supernatural powers and supernatural beauty, much as the song has been changed. Thick sounds are filtered and only the pure notes are sung."

"I didn't know you were a poet," Jane said wonderingly. Demetri glanced over at her with a smile. "Well, I did grow up listening to Homer and Ovid and all of those guys," he said with a lofty tone.

"Moment ruined," Jane said, sticking her tongue out. Demetri just smirked and seized her lips in his own. They fell into the bush, locked together, as if one. Jane moved to get even closer, and they eventually found themselves curled around each other.

Ardor gripped Demetri as he looked at Jane's eyes. They were glittering, the same passion reflected back to him. They looked at each other, fire in their gazes, before kissing again, throwing themselves into a wild frenzy.

Jane moaned as Demetri threw himself on top of her. The circlet of yew flew off of her head and landed, forgotten, in the leaf mold beside the bush. The two vampires found themselves tearing the cloth of their cloaks as they raced through the forest. Jane would wait for Demetri to reach her before lightly dancing away from his attempts to catch her, giggling. Demetri let out a playful growl before finally cornering Jane against a large maple tree.

"Got you, you little fox," he whispered in her ear. Jane smirked back at him. "Looks like you did," she responded, voice as quiet as Demetri's. The two curled around each other, forgetting about the rest of the world as they lost themselves in the other's body.

Jane felt Demetri's fingers begin to roam her body and squirmed with pleasure. She threw herself onto him and kissed him again. He responded with equal enthusiasm, his fingers flying through her hair. He broke off to marvel at the locks on her head. They were the palest brown, almost a blonde, and since she had cut it almost shoulder-length, they were curling up at the ends.

"What are you doing?" she asked, legs still curled around his waist. Demetri carefully sat down so that she was in his lap while playing with her hair. "Your hair is beautiful," he said candidly. She smiled at his comment.

"Isabella doesn't seem to think so," she said with a laugh. Demetri chuckled, remembering the moment that Isabella had noticed the cut. She had jumped slightly, staring at Jane's hairstyle, before shaking her head and giving her a look of disapproval. It had been the first time Demetri saw Isabella disappointed in her sister, even if it was sort of a joke.

"Well, right now, Isabella's opinion doesn't matter, does it?" Demetri didn't notice Jane's startled expression. "It's your hair, you can do what you want with it."

Jane nodded slowly, understanding his perspective. "Well, it's not like I did it to make her angry," she reasoned. "I just got tired of picking branches out of it."

Demetri smiled in agreement, leaning forward so that his forehead touched Jane's. "Why are we talking about your sister when this should be an 'us' moment?" he asked, pouting slightly. Jane poked his protruding lower lip with a smirk.

"Aw, is the little baby upset that I'm not thinking about him all the time?" she cooed mockingly. He glared at her halfheartedly before sighing. "Why can't I be angry at you when I want to be?" he complained, leaning forward to her again.

"Because I'm perfect," Jane said matter-of-factly before touching her lips lightly to his in a chaste kiss. "We should go back before they start searching for us," she said, sighing slightly. Demetri nodded grudgingly, allowing Jane to untangle herself from him before getting up, offering her a hand, and racing off back to their encampment with Jane at his side.

* * *

**The Jane/Demetri fluff was necessary to set up part of the next chapter. You'll see what I mean.  
**

**Hopefully I'll have another chapter ready in a week in time for my arrival back home. It'll be the last REAWAKENING chapter and a new arc should start shortly. Maybe then the actual plot will start to come in... hopefully.**

**Please review so I can get some feedback on this chapter! Until next time,**

**~Shriayle**


	13. Reawakening: The Calm Before the Storm

**So I'm not supposed to be here until July, but I still had more time left over to write. Here's an update! Last one of the arc. Next chapter will be another beginning of a new arc. But first...**

**Replies:**

**alyssamcgrath: Here is more fluff xD This time of a different nature.**

**ArabellaWhitlock: He's still a developing character, so have fun, I guess..?**

**wolfess49ers: I guess I meant for her to be more disapproving than angry xD Ah, to each their own. Caius's power was more of a whim.**

**FairyDemonDust: Glad you did :D**

**natcityjp: Thank you :) I'm happy that all of this filler is making more people happy.**

**Guest (number 1): I'm having fun :3 Here's a new update haha**

**Guest (number 2): Plot is sort of starting. I hope.**

**Guest (number 3) (or 5TailedLokiKitten I guess): I hope I don't quit soon. I will keep writing no matter how much my life goes awry :) I think.**

* * *

Renata trembled slightly when she saw the river. It was more of a creek, bloated from the fallen rain. Alec had already thrown off his cloak and was standing knee-deep in the water. He glanced back at her. She was still frozen on the riverbank.

"Renata, why are you still over there?" he called over to her. It seemed to shake her out of her stupor, for she shook her head out as if she was a dog flinging water out of his fur.

"I-I can't get into that," she stuttered out. She cursed herself silently: she must be the only vampire in the history of vampires that ever stuttered. She sat down on the riverbank, tentatively placing her bare feet in the water. Her self-loathing was swirling around her, practically tangible in the air around her.

Alec glanced at her miserable expression sympathetically. He slowly got back out of the river. "Hey, it's alright," he said, sitting next to her and placing his arm around her shoulders. She froze and looked up at him. She studied his face and saw the genuine concern in his eyes. She lowered her gaze and leaned into his half embrace.

"No, it's not," she said. "I'm the most cowardly, stupid, incapable vampire to ever exist. I don't know why I even still exist. My own uncle threw me out, just because my family was murdered and he couldn't live with the thought of living without my aunt. I was just baggage he had to get rid of before ascending to heaven or descending to hell. Who even knows anymore?! Ugh! How can you stand me? I can't stand myself!" Renata buried her face in her hands, anticipating Alec's rejection.

Instead, he had picked her up. Her head shot up from her hands and saw his determined expression. A moment later, she was weightless, and then, she was sinking. He had thrown her into the water.

She somehow propelled herself to the surface, coughing up water she had swallowed. She found herself somehow managing to stay on the surface of the river, mostly because she had the extra strength of a vampire. "Alec!" she coughed out, glaring at him.

He was glaring back at her. She shrunk away from his gaze, terrified. She heard a splash and found herself in his arms again. She tried to push herself away, tried to push him away with her shield, but her mind wouldn't obey. She couldn't bring herself to just get rid of Alec like that.

"You listen to me, Renata," he growled, gripping her shoulders as he tread water. "You are not cowardly, stupid, or incapable. I've never heard anything that was more shit in my entire existence." Renata gave him a thunderstruck look. She had never heard him use such strong language before.

"Do you know why you need to exist, Ren?" he asked. She shook her head timidly. "Because," he said, his gaze softening, "because I need you to. If you didn't exist anymore, I would follow the same path your uncle did. I would find out where you were, whichever dimension we are sent to, and immediately join you. You complete me, Renata. I need you to exist. That's why you need to hang on."

Renata shook next to him. Never before had a person felt so strongly about her. Her mother and father were power-hungry, her uncle a vampire, her aunt a deceased one. No one wanted to talk to her, but after they all died, she realized how alone she was and wrapped herself in despair, even after meeting Alec and learning about mates.

She could feel her despair begin to lift. She looked at Alec straight in the eyes and saw love buried deep in their gaze. Alec wasn't an emotional person the way Jane was; he was more subtle, more careful about showing himself. That didn't mean he didn't feel anything, the way she had thought he didn't. She had thought that he was only putting up with her because he had to, as her mate. Now, she realized that he was her everything, and his family was hers.

She sank into his embrace, sobbing without tears, emotionally drained. Alec said nothing more, instead just swimming out of the water with her still in his arms. Once they were on solid ground, she curled up on the ground, shaking. Alec carefully tucked a lock of her hair behind an ear before stroking her arm comfortingly. She readjusted herself so that her head was leaning on his leg, and he just put an arm around hers. He grabbed his cloak and covered her with it, despite knowing that she really didn't need it for warmth or anything.

Renata watched the light give way to comforting darkness from behind her eyelids. She felt herself relax, eyes still closed. They sat in silence.

"Alec?" she asked timidly. He pulled the cloak away from her face. She squinted in the sudden light change.

"Ah, sorry," he said, which she just responded with a tentative smile. The expression sent fireworks through his body in a way that he hadn't thought possible. He swallowed unnecessarily.

"What is it, Renata?" he asked softly.

She struggled with how to phrase her question. "What was your childhood like? Is Alec really your name?" she asked nervously, hoping that she didn't mess up somehow.

Alec smiled at her, immediately making her feel relaxed. "I was born Alexander, after the Greek leader," he said in a low tone. "But the villagers thought that my mother was heathen enough, since she was Jewish, not Catholic. They thought her a monster. They thought that Jane and I were monsters. Witches. But Isabella protected us. She was our real mother, I guess, even though she's only two years older than us. Isa would go into the forest and gather wood to sell for our food, because the Church claimed all of our land, saying we weren't worthy of it because of Mother. The villagers loved Isa and would help her out. That was our life."

Renata giggled when he unknowingly switched from 'Isabella' to 'Isa.' She didn't think that Isa was a very grown-up pet name for a seemingly grown-up person, taking care of her siblings the way she had.

Alec noticed the musical laughter and felt his dead heart leap a bit inside of him. "What's so funny?" he asked, ignoring the feeling.

"You called her Isa just now," Renata said, shrugging as well as she could lying down. Alec's eyes widened in realization before he scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I guess I did," he muttered, looking away in embarrassment.

"I thought it was cute," Renata blurted out. Alec's eyes widened and the two looked away from each other awkwardly. Renata felt her face heat up but knew that she couldn't actually blush. _Curse these phantom feelings_, she thought, wanting to fan her face with her hands but knowing it would look weird, especially to Alec.

Alec was just embarrassed that he had called his older sister the pet name she had long ago in front of his mate, the one who was just beginning to open up. He cleared his throat nervously.

"...so," Renata said softly. Alec flopped himself on the ground, landing with a _THUMP!_ on the ground. "So." he said in response.

Renata picked herself up from him and timidly readjusted herself to that she lay next to him. He was staring at the sky, blinking occasionally out of habit. She marveled at his eyelashes; they were as long as Jane's, despite being a lot darker. His hair was an odd color, an in-between of Jane's and Isabella's shades. It was a chestnut color with slight blond overtones. Renata thought it was a beautiful color, much better than her plain dark brown hair.

Alec closed his eyes, sighing. He felt something at his side. He opened his eyes and glanced over. Renata had curled up next to him, her head on his right shoulder, eyes closed. He smiled slightly and hugged her with the one arm.

They lay comfortably, Alec watching the clouds go by, Renata at his side. It was how Isabella found them later, before quietly leaving to give the two a moment. It was also how Jane found Alec when Caius asked her to find him. The teasing didn't end for weeks.

* * *

Jane wandered into a town with Alec by her side. It was one of the rare occasions in which neither really wanted to be with his or her mate. The ties they had with their mates were nowhere near as strong as their sibling bond, a bond that Marcus had thought impossible, especially with the Didyme debacle. Had Aro and Didyme been as tightly bonded as the two twins were, Aro would have become as comatose as Marcus once was. As it was, he hadn't changed whatsoever.

Alec's eyes widened as they entered the filthy village. Corpses lay everywhere, stinking the air with a putrid scent. Jane's eyes narrowed when they detected a kind of rot. Not the usual rotting human scent, but a more sickly scent. She looked around wildly until she found a body by itself.

She walked over to it. Her eyes widened. "A-Alec!" she shrieked. Alec was immediately at her side, and upon seeing what she saw, he swallowed.

The human corpse was male. It was naked, but that wasn't what disgusted Jane so much. The body was covered with dark lumps, some the size of apples. There was an odd dark ring around some, but the smell that Jane had detected rose almost lazily from the bulges. The bumps clustered around the corpse's underarms, but were still all around its body.

Alec noticed a few black specks wandering around on the corpse. _Are those fleas?_ he thought. He noticed more crawling out of the corpse of a rat nearby. They tried to leap at him, but he managed to spit out some of his venom quickly enough to send them reeling back to the ground. _We can all see who the better bloodsucker is, hmm?_ he thought wryly.

"What _is_ it, brother?" Jane asked, horrified. "Well, obviously, it was a human. Male, maybe halfway through its life," Alec responded sarcastically, timidly kicking the body. Jane shot him a scathing look. "You know what I mean," she hissed.

A clergyman was walking by and saw the unnaturally beautiful children. He was dazzled momentarily before he gathered his pride and walked over to them.

"I'm afraid you came at the wrong time, children," he said loftily. Jane shot Alec an annoyed look, to which Alec responded with a chuckle. The clergyman didn't notice and prattled on. "The plague has reached us," he droned. "We believe that the world will end. This is only the beginning. The wars will reach soon, and pestilence will run rampant."

"I see, man of God," Alec responded, beginning to become annoyed. "We will move on from this village."

The clergyman nodded vigorously. "You must," he stressed. He walked away, heart light because he saved the two beautiful children from a horrid death.

Jane snorted at his ignorance. "Let's go, Alec," she growled, eyes blackened. "There's nothing good here. Everyone's got this plague thing, even that oddity. I smelled it on him."

"I have a functioning nose, Jane," Alec grumbled in response. "I smelt it too."

"Good. Then you know that we need to leave." Jane dragged Alec off despite his protests at the undignified manner with which she treated him.

* * *

"I'm scared, Isa."

Isabella glanced up at the speaker in question. It was Alec, who was twitching slightly and glancing around nervously.

"What is it?" she asked, fixing his cloak. He swatted her hands away, groaning. "Stop it."

He tried to get back in front of her as she paced around aimlessly. "Isabella, just listen to me!" She stopped abruptly when he raised his voice. She slowly turned her head towards him. He never yelled at anyone about anything, so she could tell he was being completely serious. He looked panicked and was still glancing everywhere.

"What is it?" she repeated, this time keeping her eyes locked onto his.

"I-I think that the apocalypse is coming," he muttered. He realized how stupid he sounded and dejectedly kicked the flat ground.

Isabella said nothing. "Go on," she urged. Alec's hopes raised slightly. He had told Jane the same thing, but she had just scoffed and flounced away.

"Well," he began, "when Jane and I went to feed at the first village, we came across a horrendous disease."

Isabella gestured for him to continue by flicking her wrist. "It seems to have spread across Christendom. It's virtually everywhere, Isa."

Alec rubbed the tops of his arms as if he were somehow cold. "Everyone, those that were sick and those that were healthy, was hungry. They were starving. They were dying either of starvation or plague. Storms have been brewing. Nothing is the same from when we were alive. Isabella, I know I sound insane or something, but I think that Armageddon is coming."

Isabella was silent for a moment. "Have you told Aro yet?" she asked after an extended time. Alec bit his lip and shook his head.

"Okay..." she began pacing around again. "Just go to Renata, please. I'll see if the earth begins to quake and see who the anti-Christ will come. But Alec," she called out as he began to walk away. He turned back around.

"Know that the oceans of blood may come from our war. Can you live with living through the end of our world?"

Alec swallowed visibly and walked away without giving her an answer.

* * *

**Hope this lived up to your expectations :) ~Shriayle**


	14. Apocalypse: Stirring

**Well, I'm back home and back writing in large time blocks late at night. Haha.  
**

**If there are any mistakes, please let me know. Also, for the next few chapters, I'm going to need at least 6 OCs for the Romanian coven. If you have a character, please PM me (not a review!). Please note that only one OC will be allowed to have a gift, so yours might be stripped of his/her power.**

**Anyhow- Replies:**

**wolfess49ers: Well, I've got a few gifted planned, but I'm not sure about the rest of the coven. As is stated by Meyer, the Romanians had a newborn army, but there will be key characters from that army that will be important. I can't really give any more away without spoiling ;)**

**Slytherin of the Sea: I will do a few more historical events, but they'll probably be the ones that everyone will recognize. The one other event that I know for sure will happen is the Great Depression. Don't ask how it will come to play, but just remember that it will.**

**A few more things: I will be leaving the poll for one more chapter. By next chapter, I will change the poll. What will it be on? It will be about which fanfic I should write next (or simultaneously). It won't be written for a couple of months, but I've got skeletal ideas for other stories. They won't be Twilight, as my profile mentions I want to write at least one fanfic for all of the book fandoms I know. The next story I write will either be a Harry Potter or a Percy Jackson thing. Or maybe another one. I'm not sure yet. This is why I need a week to think about this xD**

**Finally, thank for for 100+ follows and 50+ reviews! The first fanfic I wrote was a Maximum Ride fanfic (which wasn't well written, as I know perfectly well) and it barely got one follow, so this positive feedback was a welcome difference. (what is that grammar.) Anyhow, here's the story.**

* * *

Alec and Jane were ready for battle. Apparently. Not all of the vampires agreed with Aro's decision. Not even his mate.

"Are you _serious_, Aro?!" Sulpicia was following him around as he strode purposefully through the trees. He was searching for the twins to tell them that battle was coming, that they were prepared for this, that they prepared for this for centuries, that the event they were waiting for was soon to come. "Aro, listen to me!" Sulpicia shrieked unattractively as she hobbled over a tree root. "Aro!" she whined.

Aro sighed slightly before turning to his mate. As much as he loved her, for her beautiful face, for her flowing hair, for her childlike innocence, for once, she was truly annoying him. "Sulpicia," he sighed. She immediately quieted down. "Please stop talking."

She pouted. Athenodora's bell-like laughter echoed from farther away. "Shut it, Athena!" Sulpicia screeched towards the noise. The laughter increased in intensity. Sulpicia pouted again.

Aro began to walk away more quickly, as if he was trying to out-walk his mate, but Sulpicia caught up. "Aro, please, just _listen_. Jane and Alec are barely able to control their skills. Alec can only control a mid-level mist of his numbing. Jane can only use one spear of pain at a time. They need to be trained more. They need to upgrade their skills. They need-"

"I can't just send them into the mortals' war," Aro growled. "It's starting, I know it, but the Romanians will be coming while they're being trained off elsewhere. Sulpicia, I've been collaborating with Caius about this for centuries; as soon as Alec, Jane, and Isabella were discovered, we've been formulating this plan. We've been waiting for the Romanians to strike." Aro grabbed his mate's arm. Sulpicia weakly protested, tugging her arm away, but he clung on harder. She felt the diamond-hard flesh creak a bit and cried out.

Aro immediately released her arm, gave her an apologetic look, and walked away, running his hand through his hair. "Sulpicia," he murmured, holding his hand out to her. She gave him a mutinous look but eventually took it in her own. He felt her thoughts fill his mind, but he tried to get rid of them so he could just fully enjoy her company.

They walked off. Soon, Athenodora was grimacing at what she heard. Isabella, who had been with her the entire time, merely sighed to herself and stood up. "I'm going to find my siblings and let them know. I hope Jane and Demetri aren't going at it too badly." Athenodora groaned aloud.

"Don't say that ever again." Isabella chuckled at Athenodora's reaction before walking away into the brush, leaving Caius's mate behind, disturbed by the images of the scenes she could see and couldn't see.

* * *

Jane tore through the forest. This was actually rather typical, but this time, it was much different. Her pupils were dilated, and her expression resembled that of a hunted animal. Sobs randomly shook her small figure. She collapsed quite a few times, but always staggered back up and continued on with a more haggard appearance with each step. She was searching for someone. Someone in particular.

She herself didn't know who she was looking for. She was just following her body's wishes as her mind raced. It wasn't just running through thoughts as it usually did when she ran through, whimsical and carefree. This time, her mind was just repeating Aro's last words to her as if it were a broken record.

_"You're going to war. Be prepared."_

Normally, the idea of conflict didn't affect her so badly. The idea of tearing off limbs and setting them ablaze, all while shoving 'pain' through others' veins and causing them unbelievable agony made her shudder only slightly, not completely break down. But she couldn't forget what Alec had told her either.

_"The end of the world is near. The mortals have fallen to Famine and Plague. It is only a matter of time before War ravages the land and spills oceans of blood, just like when the mortals' corpses burst into flesh and bodily fluids. Jane, this is your only warning. Be ready."_

She wasn't usually a religious person, but Alec was sensible, albeit God-fearing even as a vampire. His religious streak was beginning to fade as time passed, but it would only be centuries more before he truly relinquished that belief. The fact that he believed in Armageddon so strongly wasn't as frightening as his conviction was. The end of the world was coming.

Jane felt herself begin to hyperventilate. The action didn't cause the racing heartbeats and shortness of breath that it did in the humans. The psychological nature of hyperventilation was thoroughly part of her; she was completely panicked as she raced around the forest meaninglessly.

"I-Isa!" she sobbed out. She hadn't meant to; the name had slipped out of her lips. Subconsciously, she had been seeking out her mother figure. She called out again and again. "ISABELLA!"

Something suddenly caught hold of her. She froze in time; her limbs stopped working, her legs stopped running, her breathing stopped, her eyelids refused to blink. She whipped around after recovering; Demetri was holding onto her, looking concerned. "What's wrong, love?" he asked.

"N-NO!" She shoved a surprised Demetri away. "Not you. Not now. Not now." Her words grew quieter and quieter, and she felt herself fall down but continuously scramble to get away. She needed to get away; she couldn't let them see her like that. Especially him.

"Jane, I don't understand," Demetri tried to say, but she had already gotten to her feet and started to run again. "Jane!" he called after her. She didn't respond. "JANE!" He began to pursue her again.

"No! Not now! I don't want you to see me!" she screamed after him. His footsteps became slower, and he stopped and stared after her helplessly. He couldn't seem to get to her. She refused to listen. Worried, he slowly turned around and walked in the opposite direction. He suddenly realized that she called out for Isabella's presence for her understanding, her willingness to help others. Shaking his head, he ran to find her, to alert her of Jane's frenzy.

"What?!" Isabella was shell-shocked, to say the least. "Why would she... never mind that, where did she go?" Demetri barely gave her directions when she darted off into the woods to find her wayward sister.

Jane ran, trying to leave her thoughts behind. The more she thought about them, the faster she tried to run, when she realized that she had found the maximum in even her vampire speed and couldn't force herself to go any faster. Even then, Alec's and Aro's words echoed in the recesses of her mind.

_You're going to war. The end of the world is coming. The mortals have fallen to Famine and Plague. Be prepared. __It is only a matter of time before War ravages the land and spills oceans of blood, just like when the mortals' corpses burst into flesh and bodily fluids. _You're going to war. Be ready. Be prepared. The mortals have fallen. The end of the world is coming. Be prepared.

She screamed an unearthly scream. She grabbed her head and collapsed, finally, twitching and heaving as she cried tearlessly. "I'm not ready!" she whimpered. "I don't know what to do if the end of the world is coming. I don't know how to prepare. I can't do this." She felt herself begin to shake uncontrollably. "ISABELLA!" she shrieked before curling up into a fetal position. "Isabella," she repeated, this time at a whisper.

Her sister found her lying on the ground, sobbing and mumbling her name. "Jane, Jane, I'm here, what's wrong?" Isabella asked frantically, grabbing her sister and shaking her. "Jane!"

Jane turned her head towards her sister. "Isa?" she asked, sounding completely vulnerable.

"Yes, Jane, it's me." Isabella gently moved a lock of Jane's short hair behind her ear. "What is it?"

"A-Alec said that the world is going to end with this war. We're Aro's anti-Christs. We're his secret weapon. He's going to unleash the apocalypse with us. I can't be prepared for that. I can't." She buried her head into Isabella's shoulder. Isabella was momentarily frozen in surprise; Jane hadn't done anything that was remotely as affectionate since she was turned, or maybe since she was a young girl. Isabella soon relaxed and fully embraced her sister. Jane just trembled against her shoulder.

"I'm not ready, Isa. I'm not ready to go to war."

"Jane, I know you are." Isabella held Jane closer to her. "Don't worry, Jane. As thick-headed as Aro sometimes seems, he knows what he's doing. If he thinks you're ready, then you are really ready."

Jane timidly looked up from Isabella's shoulder. "Really?" she asked doubtfully.

Isabella merely sighed and patted Jane's head again. "Yes, Jane. Really."

* * *

Alec responded to Aro's ultimatum more calmly. Or at least, it looked like that.

"Ren, I don't know if I can do this." He was pacing around trees at vampire walking speed. Renata was sitting in one of the trees and watched as her mate walked by the tree over and over and over again.

"Alec, calm down," Renata tried to reason with him. "You can do it. I know you can." She cursed her cheesiness under her breath.

Alec heard her faint whispers and smirked slightly. "Ladies shouldn't know those words," he called up. Renata glared down at him before huffing and crossing her arms in a mock-angry manner. He chuckled before continuing to pace on. "Seriously though, Renata," he said again with a sigh. "If my inklings are correct, then the entire world will be changed because of us. Things will happen and people will die. They're going to die, Renata!"

"Well, hopefully people don't die, just vampires." Renata shrugged at Alec's exasperated glance. "It's true. But you can't control that that plague of yours isn't going to kill either. Also, even if it wasn't the Armageddon or whatever you think it will be, people will still have died. The plague will kill. The mortal's war will kill. You're being the 'anti-Christ' or whatever doesn't change that at all."

Alec glared at her. "You're not exactly an optimist about this, are you?" he grumbled under his breath.

Renata cocked an eyebrow at him. She had long since discarded her timidity, and with Isabella's help, her confidence had grown. She wasn't the little girl that hid behind her uncle anymore; she was her own person.

To be honest, she wasn't sure when she had emerged from her shell. However, she knew it was partially because of the vampire underneath her. Alec had been a perpetual source of...something ineffable. Something that she always needed, though she hadn't known at the time.

The aforementioned vampire sighed, his hair flying up as a response to his exhale. "I'm not ready for war," he admitted to her. Renata leaped out of the tree.

"No one really is, Alec," she told him. "We just need to hope that we are as prepared as we can be in the time we have."

Alec nodded at her wisdom and walked off with her by his side, his mind still racing.

* * *

Caius leaned back against a tree, his eyes closed. His mind sped through all of his possible war strategies against the Romanians, especially the ways he could integrate Isabella and Alec and Jane. Unbeknownst to Aro, Isabella's powers were far greater than merely stripping others' shields while keeping her own up. She confided in Marcus and Caius that she could see just a glimpse others' thoughts, if they were under her shield. Caius planned on utilizing this ability completely in the upcoming battle.

It would be a battle for the books. Or something. Marcus was always the intellectual brother. Isabella had described it to him once: Marcus was the thinker, Aro the judge, and Caius the executor. Together, they made up a powerful figurehead for the Volturi. The Guard existed to be the body that the head controlled. Without the body, the head was nothing. Without the head, the body couldn't function. They were essentially symbiotic creatures.

Especially in war. The Guard didn't fight unless the brothers commanded them to, and by brothers, Caius meant himself. Aro was useless in the midsts of battle, preferring to monologue and drone on and on while his comrades were being torn down around him. Marcus was once a legendary warrior and was the sole defender of the unspoken laws before Caius was discovered and Didyme was 'mysteriously' killed.

Caius shook his head lightly to free his mind of that claptrap. There was no need to think about the past, the histories that Aro gathered and carefully remolded to match his schemes. It was clear as the sunlight on their skin that Aro had something to do with Didyme's demise, but only Marcus was blind to the truth. The disgusting, heart-wrenching truth (if they had hearts at all, that is).

What kind of world was it when a brother tears his sister to pieces for thinking independently? Caius himself was disturbed by this turn of events, and it took a lot to make him feel even slightly squeamish. Athenodora, his _mate_, as Didyme was Marcus's, was also an independent, sanguine woman. If she ever whispered into Caius's ear of leaving in the protection of the night, she would be the next to be shredded and turned to kindling. Caius couldn't just accept a world without his other; even though he was known for his ruthlessness, she unlocked his 'human' feelings of attachment and possessiveness. Without her, he would be blinded in the night, and the fleeting light of the stars wouldn't be bright enough to rid his soul of the shadows that would lurk.

Caius growled to himself as he tried to get rid of his thoughts. It was bad enough when Marcus confided in him about his feelings, but when he was creating these thoughts himself..!

"Damn it!" he shouted suddenly, smacking his temple with the heel of his hand. "Stop it, stop it, stop it..!"

"Master?"

Caius whipped around, eyes ablaze. Alec was standing in front of him with Renata right behind him. They were both giving him a look of curiosity. "Is something wrong?" Alec ventured again.

Caius ran a hand through his hair and shut his eyes, gritting his teeth. "Yes. I'm fine. Just... get out of here. Get ready for something else."

Alec nodded uncertainly. "Alright, we'll go off to find Aro, I guess..."

"No!" Alec jumped at the sudden outburst. Renata made a small squeak and hid herself behind her mate. Caius's eyes glanced over them, over Alec's sudden protective stance and Renata's complete trust in him.

"Just... go to Marcus. Leave Aro alone for a bit."

Alec understood his implication and made a sound of agreement. He gently directed Renata away and the two ran off silently into the trees.

Caius sighed and walked on.

* * *

**I am so done writing about this freaking forest, for God's sake. **

**Until next time! Probably like next week I hope. ~Shriayle**


	15. Apocalypse: War

**Oh look, a new chapter. For anyone who is curious, I have no set update schedule as of yet; I just upload once the chapter is complete. As I have said before, the previous poll on Isabella's mate is now CLOSED with apparently Jasper as the most popular. I'll see if I can make it work, but it will require a bit of plot revision.  
**

**Finally some action is hither! Thanks for waiting it out for a bit.**

**Thanks to Arabella Whitlock and I am in Loki's Army for their characters, both of which make a debut in this chapter.**

**Replies:**

**I am in Loki's Army: Thanks for all of your support~~**

**FairyDemonDust: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY idk what I'm yay-ing about but YAY.**

**Slytherin of the Sea: Yay for bonding! And yes, I think Caius is an underrated character in most fanfics. He deserves more fleshing out, and I'm not talking about the Caius/Bella slashfics. We don't speak of the slashfics here.**

* * *

They were running. Their feet hit the ground in muffled thumps, creating a veritable stampede as they whisked their way through the land. And yet, their speed rivaled light itself, and the power they threw into each stride did not reverberate through the ground in the way another creature's feet might. They were the perfect hunters, carved and molded to be the silence that every child fears at night.

They dressed the part as well. They wore cloaks with varying shades of the color black, the darkest figures spearheading the rest of the formation. They wore dark clothing underneath as well, and the only color that could be seen were two pinpricks of red gleaming from where their eyes would be.

Some were women. Others were men. The villagers that saw them weren't quite sure how many of each because of how quickly they came and left. Their story was recorded everywhere, the story of the whispers of the night that left as soon as the sunlight touched the land.

Soon, legends arose around the shadowy figures with glowing red irises that darted across the land like a pack of wolves. In what came to be known as Flanders, stories of the Oude Rode Ogen arose, telling of a demonic spirit that favored the form of a red-eyed dog. Elsewhere, the old pagan myths of hellhounds serving the Underworld arose once again, striking fear into the hearts of Christians certain that they would go to Heaven, not Asphodel. Some people caught a glimpse of the pale white figures underneath the dark clothes they wore and claimed that the Kirkonväki had been reborn.

However, the actual figures ran on whilst bickering under their breaths. Aro wasn't sure why they had gone through the island nations east of Britain. He thought it a huge waste of time to circle around their targets when they were _right there, damn it Caius!_ Caius ignored his brother's mutters and continued on his track. Marcus watched the argument with mild amusement.

"Why are we still going through these islands?!" Aro hissed to Caius once, while they hunted. Caius said nothing, but stared towards the Slavic lands. The Romanians had been amassing an army, but Caius could see no sign of them. "Brother, please tell me."

"We are greatly outnumbered," Caius said. "The Romanians are working to restore their old glory by recruiting too many for us to handle. We must throw them off before striking to reduce casualties."

"Casualties, brother?" Caius's eyes darted over to Aro's horrified gaze. "Do you really think this will come to such a level? Destruction? You can't be serious."

"Aro, Alec has been thinking of this entire venture as proof of the apocalypse. Some of the others can see where he is coming from, the misguided child. We must try our hardest to make sure the world doesn't really end."

Aro sighed in exasperation. "I'd heard of his thoughts, but I'd hoped he stopped believing in that nonsense."

Caius shot a look towards Aro. "Keep in mind, that is my apprentice you speak of," he growled.

"Your apprentice, Caius?" Aro stared at him in disbelief. "I wouldn't think that you would be so willing to take one on."

Caius growled again, this time with no words. He turned his back to Aro and walked on to find more prey.

"We will be arriving in Romanian territory soon, Aro," he called back. "Give it another day's travel. We will be there, and we will immediately fight. That's the way the world works."

Aro snorted as he watched Caius strut off. "Sure, brother," he said quietly, smiling to himself. "Of course. You are the strategist, after all."

* * *

"We're here."

Jane raised an eyebrow at Aro's announcement. "Pardon me, but how in the world can you tell?" she asked. She raised her arms around her. "It looks like the same forest over here."

Alec laughed quietly at Aro's expression. The self-proclaimed King of the Volturi looked extremely perturbed at Jane's question. "It just is, alright?" Aro responded.

"His language is just taking a back seat, isn't it?" Jane muttered to Alec, who burst out in another wave of laughter. This time, Renata and Demetri joined in.

Aro sighed at his guards' collective immaturity. He wasn't the only one slightly annoyed by them: Isabella's eyes kept darting over to them and trying to calm them down silently. It didn't work. She sighed and rolled her eyes as they continued to laugh and dance about in blissful ignorance.

After trekking even further into the Transylvanian woods, they saw a castle far in the distance. Isabella instinctively drew back to rejoin her siblings.

Jane's nose wrinkled. "Do you smell that?" she whispered. Isabella nodded minutely; the sweet scents of other vampires were washing over their noses. They were more saccharine than anything; they smelled too sweet, sweet enough for even a human to smell. "There are so many," she murmured. Alec grimaced. His gift was the only that could even fathom attacking that many at once.

"Keep watch," Caius barked at them softly. "They could be anywhere, especially that Ramiro girl."

Marcus's lip curled slightly. "Don't tell me that she's still alive, brother," Marcus growled. Caius nodded. "They kept her, for whatever reason."

"She's bound to Vladimir in a somewhat familial manner. They see each other as brother and sister even though he was her creator," Marcus said. Caius gave a dismissive noise, but Isabella kept that in mind.

"Are there any abilities we need to worry about?" she asked Marcus.

He thought for a second. "Well, we would need to worry about it, but I don't think you need to. You have your shield as protection."

Isabella nodded to herself, storing the snippet of information in her mind.

The group walked silently on until they entered a clearing. There, two other vampires were standing in the middle of it, looking in the opposite direction. Both were female.

Caius snarled softly. "There she is," he said. Isabella looked at the girl he was fixated on. She had waist-length black hair and her back was to the approaching vampires. She looked around Isabella's age.

Isabella quietly shielded the entire group. The girl next to the first had long, light-brown hair, just a shade darker than Jane's. She seemed older than her companion, but also more concerned; her posture was stiffer and she was glancing around, her head flicking back and forth.

Aro glanced over to Caius, who gestured him forward faux-encouragingly. Aro sighed before approaching the two. "Delyla? Paula?"

The two whipped around, startled. "You said they would come from that direction!" the second hissed. The first, Delyla, snarled right back before looking at the group.

"Aro," she called out smoothly. Sulpicia growled from within the group, Corin and Chelsea holding her back with one hand each. Delyla paid them no mind. "We heard tell that you were coming."

"You mean that _you_ heard tell," Aro corrected with a sly smile. "Where were you hiding?"

"Christendom is an interesting place," she said dryly. "But the new rumors of the Scandinavian and English creatures spread everywhere. Did you think that we wouldn't hear?"

Aro chuckled, but his eyes were anything but amused. "Well, I'd heard them, but I didn't think they would spread so far."

Delyla tilted her head slightly. "You didn't think I just stay here in Romania, now did you?" she asked teasingly. Growls were ripping through Sulpicia's body now, and she was trembling with rage.

Isabella gave Corin a quick glance. The other vampire nodded minutely and began to try to cheer Sulpicia up and calm her down, but it was to no avail. This Delyla character really knew that the way to incite battle and blame it on the Volturi was to annoy just one. Just talking to Aro could incite jealousy in Sulpicia; flirting with him, no matter how jokingly, would enrage her.

Aro finally noticed his mate's struggles. He retreated, giving Delyla a sharp look, and wrapped an arm around her shaking figure. Immediately she calmed down and relaxed. Isabella let out a breath of relief.

Marcus sighed before taking over. "Delyla, why are you and Paula even here?" he asked. "The figurative bone we have to pick is with your leaders, not his coven members. You should leave before it is too late."

Paula finally spoke up. "Oh, is that right, Marcus?" She strutted forward, all semblance of timidity lost. "Just Stefan and Vladimir? Is that what I heard?" Her voice was as high-pitched as a yowling cat. Isabella grimaced.

"Yes, Paula," Marcus said. Paula slowly and deliberately raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really?" she said again.

Delyla's lip curled away from her teeth. "I've heard enough," she snarled. She snapped her arms out to the sides, and from all around the clearing, hungry growls and sneers arose. Marcus's eyes widened as an army of a hundred-odd newborns emerged from the forest's depths.

Paula began to laugh. It wasn't a sweet, cute giggle; no, she was cackling like a hyena while somehow still sounding like bells. "Did you expect that, Aro?" she sneered at him, smirking. Delyla giggled from beside her.

Isabella felt a darkness emanate from Paula as the older vampire stared at Aro. The darkness reached out like a claw, but fell short, ending at Isabella's shield. Out of curiosity, Isabella focused on what the darkness was.

She allowed herself to get engulfed by it only slightly.

Voices whispered, "The flames, the flames are still there!" Cackles from all around her. Shadows formed around her, wrapping around her body. As it rose, it felt as though small insects were buzzing in her ears and climbing her legs. "Death," the voices said. "Blood." They got closer, she could_ feel_ them get closer, but they sounded quieter: "_We will die in rivulets of blood, filling our orifices and flooding the ground._"

Isabella drew herself away with a start. Jane heard Isabella's audible gasp and glanced over. "What is it, Isa?" Jane asked quietly.

"She's a dark figure," Isabella growled. "And she was trying to change Aro. She's the anti-Christ that Alec feared, it seems. Her gift reduces reason to flailing insanity. She's the one to beat."

Marcus glanced over. "That's Vladimir's mate you're talking about. Paula King, Tyrant of the Mind."

Isabella raised an eyebrow. "What kind of character would let such an evil thing get close enough to him to even fathom having her as a mate?" she asked loudly, trying to get a reaction out of Paula. It worked. The other vampire's eyes snapped over to Isabella and narrowed. Isabella felt the darkness flood the shield again, but she refused to back down, adding more and more layers of protection to her mind.

Paula's eyes widened and her attack ceased as she realized that Isabella was somehow impervious to her gift. She looked genuinely uncertain this time.

Aro growled, staring away from the army and from Paula. The army had stopped moving and was surrounding both the Romanian coven and the Volturi guard. Two more figures had emerged, along with Delyla.

"Where's Delyla?" Alec whispered to Isabella. Confused, she gestured to her. "There's no one there, Isabella," Alec said, slightly panicked.

"Another mental gift," Aro breathed. "She can hide in crowds."

Isabella noticed how the girl was staring incredulously at Isabella. Isabella smirked at the Romanians.

A fair-haired man approached them. He had oddly dusty skin, as though he allowed himself to disintegrate in a room. "Aro, my…friend," he called out. Another woman stuck close to him, a dark-haired woman with the odd, powdery skin and beet-red eyes.

"Stefan," Aro said with a slight bow.

"What is this about?" Caius asked, gesturing at the army that surrounded the two factions.

Another man, the dark-haired one, smiled smugly. "This is our little group of soldiers, manufactured to beat you, of course."

Santiago growled from behind Aro. "Newborns, Master?" he hissed out uncertainly.

Stefan shooed away the woman that was clinging to him, much to her chagrin. "Yes, tell your little _pet_ there that there are quite a few newborns here." He smirked at the Volturi's discomfort, failing to realize that it was carefully calculated discomfort they were exuding.

Vladimir, the dark-haired vampire, laughed out loud. It was a cruel laugh he gave, a laugh that promised darkness and fear, not unlike what the humans that the Dacian coven 'ruled' over felt. "Do you fear death?" he purred. Paula giggled from next to him. He wrapped an arm around her upon hearing her mirth.

Aro smiled lightly, as though they were just two friends exchanging goods. "Of course not," he replied. "We are already dead, Vladimir."

Stefan snarled, all semblance of amusement gone from his face. "Well, then," he growled, "we'll just have to kill you again, won't we?" A twisted smile stretched across his face. "We'll tear those limbs to shreds, carefully pulling each little string off of the bones"—he took one step towards the Volturi coven—"then we'll snap those bones in _half_"—he took another—"and then we'll rip the hair out"—yet another—"and maybe we'll take out those pretty little eyeballs of yours"—the final step (he was now directly in Aro's face)—"and we'll set the whole pile of you on fire!" He gave a wild laugh while looking at Aro's stony visage. "How'd you like that, you little лайна?"

Aro just smiled again, infuriating Stefan as well as making the army surrounding them restless. "Why, my dear Stefan," Aro purred before grabbing Stefan's throat, to Vladimir's alarm and Caius's amusement, "I will gladly take you up on that offer."

And with that, the war began.

* * *

**For those who are curious, that odd foreign word a few paragraphs up is apparently Bulgarian for "shit." Thank you Google. (If there are any Romanian readers or if anyone is well-versed in Romanian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, or Serbian and has a better word, please tell me. I'm actually kinda curious. Also I used Bulgarian because for whatever reason I think Bulgaria is an awesome country xD Prolly because Harry Potter tbh)**

**Until next time! ~Shriayle**


	16. Apocalypse: Death

**These battle chapters are much shorter than some of the other chapters (hi chapter 11) but they have a lot of action so it's worth it, I guess?  
**

**I have a new poll up! What story should I write next? Keep in mind, I probably won't start posting until this story reaches around 20-25 chapters, and knowing my schedule that could take freaking forever. If you're expecting ideas for another Twilightfic, then sorry, but I have no ideas for this world after this story is over. I mean, I won't deal with the wolves, but I suck at writing pure romance and that would be really bad. As it is, I'll probably write a Harry Potter or Percy Jackson fanfic next (both have choices on the poll) so if you can help me choose one then I will be over the moon. I do have multiple for each, but I'll probably still only write one story for the fandom. It's my goal to have at least one story for the fandoms I've listed on my profile; I don't want to get distracted from that.**

**MOVING ON.**

**The Apocalypse arc might be the shortest yet. There are only a few more important plot points to deal with so... yeah. I don't need any more OCs though; I've come up with the rest myself. Again, thanks to Arabella Whitlock and I am in Loki's Army for theirs.**

**REPLIES:**

**Arabella Whitlock: DEATH DEATH DEEEAAATH :D In all seriousness, thanks for letting me use you (that sounded so wrong). Haha, really? That was an interesting coincidence**

**vxgt: The plot will be picking up. If I drew out one of those middle school plot maps, the plot of this story would look like an exponential function's graph.**

**alyssamcgrath: The darkness is within...the Romanian coven xD Although Jane's gift is rather dark in and of itself.**

**I am in Loki's Army: Delyla was fun to play with :P **

**Slytherin of the Sea: This might not live up to your expectations, then :3**

**natcityjp: I might play with the plot to make them meet sooner if I even want to give her a mate at all. I'm still trying to make it work, mostly because her later actions are based on her current personality, but when vampires meet their mates, they go through a huge metamorphosis. That's why Jane is more tender-hearted now and Alec is more outspoken. That was supposed to happen. Didn't really but eehhhh.**

* * *

The Volturi clustered together, facing outwards, all snarling. In the moment, it didn't matter if one was guard or triumvirate or mate; they were all working together to bring down the tyranny of the Dacians.

Isabella reached her shield over the others and gave Caius the signal that said so. Caius nodded back to her and turned his attention back to the Dacian army. His gaze darkened and he subconsciously moved in front of Athenodora, who just rolled her eyes at him. _Typical with those two_, Alec thought to himself.

Marcus had simply prepared to go to battle by crouching slightly, and Aro was leaning back while keeping his hands forward in case he could grab another's and absorb their thoughts. Chelsea was hanging back; her power lay more in defense than offense. Renata was staying right with her, while Afton was casting his invisibility over them. Soon, all three figures were gone from everyone's sight except for Isabella's. Santiago and Corin were hovering protectively by Aro. Jane and Alec were next to Isabella, Demetri flanking them. Felix stood next to Alec, his eyes narrowed and staring into the crowd of vampires in front of him.

"Well, this'll be fun," Jane whispered. Isabella smirked.

Stefan walked around the circle, staring intently at each guard. Sulpicia clung to Aro further, but he gently batted her away. The Romanian chuckled in dark amusement.

"Only twelve to fight all of us, Aro?" He shook his head in mock sadness. "Did you think yourself prepared?"

Aro shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, I feel that I am, even if this" (he gestured to the horde of vampires around him) "is a bit more than I expected."

Vladimir snarled. "And what do you mean about that?"

"What was he trying to say?" Jane hissed to Alec, who just shook his head exasperatedly.

Demetri smacked them both on the back of the head, to Isabella's amusement.

Paula seemed frustrated. Isabella wasn't sure why until she realized that her shield made Paula's gift completely unusable, and the vampire seemed unable to hold herself in hand-to-hand combat. _How interesting…_

Vladimir glanced over to his mate, who whispered something that made his eyes widen. "Stefan, get back," he ordered sharply.

The pale-haired vampire shrugged before stepping away.

"Warriors, forth!" A female cry resonated throughout the throng. Delyla was hiding in the midst of the horde, egging them on. Vladimir, Paula, and Stefan stepped away from the army and the Volturi.

"Cowards," Caius muttered. Aro made a sound of agreement. Caius glanced behind him and made eye contact with Isabella. He surreptitiously nodded.

"Now, Alec," Isabella whispered after receiving Caius's cue.

A thin, misty, gas-like substance appeared outside of Isabella's shield. It concentrated around Alec for a moment before wafting out over the crowd of vampires surrounding them.

Inhumane cries burst into the clamor that had already descended. For a while, the Volturi remained impassive and unaffected as Alec's fog drifted from vampire to vampire, concentrating around their minds. One by one, the hundred vampire soldiers ceased their screaming and collapsed on the ground, writhing. Their glowing red irises rolled back into their heads and they continued to jerk around underneath them.

Vladimir's eyes widened, and he tried to go into the crowd. "Delyla!" he bellowed, desperate to save his sister. Paula held him back. "You'll be wiped out the way she was!" she hissed. Her pleading fell onto deaf ears, and Stefan had to help hold him back to stop him from throwing himself into Alec's illusion.

"Alec," Isabella murmured. Her brother glanced up at her. She gave him a look. He sighed and, chastised, drew his fog away.

There was a moment of stillness after the fog dissipated. None of the vampires dared move a muscle. Doing so would start the battle anew, and this time Caius wouldn't hesitate to exploit Alec's abilities again.

It was Vladimir who ended the stand-off. Cautious as he was, the thought that Delyla was struggling in the mass of vampires surrounding the Volturi was too compelling to resist. He dove into the pile and began to shove moaning figures away. Felix, the closest to him, snorted. Demetri put one arm protectively around Jane, who protested silently.

Delyla was recovered. Her eyes appeared pure white, and if she were human, foam would have flooded her mouth. She was still weakly fighting.

"Delyla?" Vladimir asked shakily. She made no response. All she felt was the absence of everything. She couldn't hear Vladimir's voice, see his concern, feel his hand as he dragged her away, or smell the overlapping scents of the vampires. All she felt was emptiness. She let out a guttural moan that Aro noted gleefully.

"No more spying for your little one," Aro murmured. The three remaining Romanians' eyes snapped back to Aro.

"You did this," Vladimir snarled. "You did this to my little sister!" Enraged, he ran towards Aro, hands outstretched. Caius's eyes widened and he forced Athenodora and Sulpicia back even further. Marcus watched with a vague interest.

Vladimir took hold of Aro's throat amid Sulpicia's wails and desperate attempts to get to her mate. "I'll kill you!" he roared, throwing Aro against a tree and leaping on him.

Stefan took this as a chance to launch himself at Caius, who was fully expecting the attack. The pale-haired vampires fought, Stefan growling, Caius smirking back silently.

Paula just seemed to grit her teeth as she held Delyla's twitching form close to her body. She was not a fighter the way her mate and coven member were; she just relied on her ability, one that didn't work on this new group that had easily taken down their army. She wasn't sure what to do apart from protect her charge.

It is a beautiful thing to see two vampires battle to the death. Although it may sound macabre, they appeared to be dancing more than anything. Caius stepped carefully to the left as Stefan threw himself towards the Volturi. He continued to sidestep as Stefan's punches and jabs flew over his head and shoulders. Soon, he found an opening and kicked Stefan into a tree, much in the way Vladimir had done to Aro. Caius waited for Stefan to get back up before resuming his battle.

_Such a gentleman,_ Athenodora thought with a grunt. _He's being too cocky about this._

Sulpicia didn't pay any attention to Caius; her eyelids didn't even flutter when he threw Stefan into the oak. Her eyes were fixed on Aro, who was making an act of struggling against Vladimir's rage. Aro's glance darted towards his coven, and Vladimir saw his chance to lunge at him. Sulpicia whimpered and fell on the ground, sobbing. Athenodora sat down next to her and held her close, not saying a word.

Felix and Santiago had already begun dismembering the bodies around them on either side. Isabella gritted her teeth before joining him, roughly pulling the vampire army apart, limb by limb. Demetri kept hovering around Jane and kept an eye out in case Paula tried to make a run for it, and Alec was on edge, waiting for another cue to restart his gift.

Isabella heard something dim in the back of her mind. She glanced towards Caius, who was in the middle of battling Stefan. Having caught Isabella's eye, Caius gestured towards Aro.

The dark-haired member of the triumvirate was reacting with actual pain now. Vladimir had taken off his left arm and was advancing on him with malice glinting in his eyes.

"Say good bye to that pretty little mate of yours, Aro," he snarled amidst Sulpicia's cries. Aro's eyes flashed towards the Volturi once more. Vladimir assumed he was trying to catch Sulpicia's eyes and gave a twisted grin, but really, Aro was directing another girl.

Vladimir took one step closer when a girl with pale-brown hair materialized next to Aro. Isabella's eyes grew wide and Demetri just looked on helplessly as Jane stood next to Aro and gave Vladimir an innocent smile.

"I'm sorry, you'll have to go through me first," she said sweetly. She held out her hand expectantly, as if waiting for Vladimir to return the arm.

Vladimir stared at her before throwing back his head and cackling loudly. Caius glanced over from his fight to see what was going on before realizing that Aro was in grave danger and Jane was _just fucking standing there goddamn it!_

"Excuse me?" Vladimir suddenly whispered. Paula directed her insanity towards the two Volturi, but Isabella was quick to defend them before her darkness could make contact. Paula growled under her breath and drew back; it made no sense to attack if nothing happened.

"I said," Jane took one step forward, "you'll have to go through me first."

"Jane!" Demetri gave a strangled cry and started forward, but Isabella and Alec held him back. Renata whimpered from behind Afton's illusion of invisibility and Chelsea clasped a hand over her mouth with an apologetic glance.

Demetri looked at Isabella with wild eyes. "I can't just stand here!" he hissed out, glancing back to his mate desperately.

Isabella just clung tighter. "Just…keep an eye on those two," she said, directing his attention to a scowling Paula and a still Delyla. "If they get away, Aro'll have your head."

Demetri closed his eyes, let out a breath, and nodded tightly. He forced himself to stop staring at Jane and to just watch the last Dacians.

Jane watched Demetri's indecision and Isabella's direction helplessly. If only her Demetri knew, if only he knew of Caius's plan..!

Vladimir reached forward and slapped her when he saw her attention wander. "You dare look elsewhere when I'm about to kill you!" he growled. Alec was about to leap forward but tried to calm himself down as well. Isabella's chest was rising and falling in her attempt to hold herself back and _don't get out there just stay here that _damned_ whoreson laying a hand on my little sister he'll pay dearly for that that little piece of—_

Jane stared directly into Vladimir's eyes and whispered one word: "Pain."

Vladimir had one moment to ponder her word when his bones caught on fire. Shrieking, he lurched backwards, thrashing as he fell. Aro's arm flew away, but Jane caught it and returned it to her 'master.' Vladimir didn't notice that Aro had put himself back together; he was too busy writhing around and screaming in agony. His veins ruptured, his internal organs burst from pressure, his bones snapped outwards as the marrow expanded, his vision spun as his body lost the vital fluids he needed.

Paula screamed in unison and bolted forward towards her mate, Delyla forgotten. Stefan glanced over to realize that his partner, his coven mate, his best friend, had been taken down by a vampire much younger than him. He was incapacitated while Stefan was growing weaker battling Caius. The Volturi had strategized to the point in which he could easily deflect Stefan's moves back to him and anticipate what was coming next.

In a short sentence: they were doomed.

"Fall back!" Stefan shouted. Paula looked at him, eyes full of rage.

"Coward!" she screeched. "I'm not leaving Vladimir behind!"

Caius's eyes gleamed. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his guards finish destroying the army. The battle was essentially over, thanks to his superior strategic skills.

_If Aro hears that, he's not going to be very pleased,_ Caius thought to himself wryly.

Stefan looked back helplessly before disappearing through the forest.

Vladimir was still under Jane's pain. Isabella ran up and grabbed Jane by the shoulder. "Jane. Stop. It's over."

Jane started and abruptly her attack ceased. Paula tried to run up to Vladimir, but Caius gave a warning shout and Alec directed his ability to her.

Vladimir awoke to see his mate on the ground. "Paula!" he roared, trying to get through the Volturi. Santiago held him back at Marcus's orders.

Aro walked in front of Vladimir delicately and stood in front of him. "You will pay dearly for everything you have caused, Vladimir," he murmured quietly. The Dacian glared at him.

"You exposed our kind to the humans. You slaughtered whole villages to slake your thirst without thought of the Children of the Moon. For that, you will suffer."

Aro nodded to Felix. The burly vampire walked up to Paula's twitching form and ripped her head off of her body with a blank expression.

Vladimir screamed again. He gave a primal screech of despair, pain, and grief all in one. Isabella grimaced and took a step back. Jane buried her head in Demetri's cloak; Alec quickly moved to make sure Renata couldn't see what was going on. Isabella and Demetri exchanged a helpless look before forcing themselves to look at Aro again. Even Caius looked uncomfortable.

"Chelsea," Aro whispered. The female vampire looked at Aro. "Do you really want to do this?" she asked hesitantly.

"He broke the sacred codes. This is where the myths of how to destroy us originated from. He caused those. He deserves this."

Chelsea nodded slowly before concentrating on Vladimir. The vampire, who had previously been throwing himself towards his mate, who Felix had since added to the pile of other remains after pulling her apart, suddenly stopped fighting against Santiago. Instead, his eyes clouded, much like Stefan's and Marcus's were.

_Those are the signs of one who lost a mate, _Isabella realized with a shudder. They looked like dead fish, pathetic creatures who would see no more.

"Go." Santiago released Vladimir, who sank to the ground before staggering up and away, after Stefan.

As the others were leaving, Isabella caught up to Felix. "Did you do that to Stefan too?" she asked without preamble. His silence was her answer, and the Volturi moved on, knowing the Dacians were far too broken to challenge them again.

The sickly-sweet smelling fumes of a funeral pyre followed them as the fire blazed higher and the vampires slunk into the shadows and away. They were finally, after centuries, going home.

* * *

**Oh, I had one more thing to ask! I've been working on a trailer video of sorts that is related to this fanfiction! It's basically a bunch of clips that I've put to music that details their relationship and even some parts of the story. Do you guys want to see it once it's done? Please let me know if you do! If, let's say, five of you want to see it (review or PM me if you do), then I'll upload it once it's done and link it in my profile. **

**Until later! ~Shriayle**


	17. Apocalypse: Recovery

**I hope you guys aren't too confused about the new title xD They died by being burned at the stake and were reborn as vampires: sounds like a phoenix to me! There is a link on my profile if you want to see the larger title page. I'm rather proud of it, myself (yes I did draw it thank you.)**

**While I do like updating this often, on Monday, I'm going to be going to this summer program thing at a rather well known college here in California, so I will probably not be able to write as much during that time. If I ever get random insomnia, I will most likely find myself writing, but if I have time to write is a different question.**

**Replies:**

**Slytherin of the Sea: One vote for the trailer! And I'm happy that at least one person didn't think it was too bad :P First vampire fight scene I ever wrote. Not too bad.**

**Arabella Whitlock: oh god that innuendo though. You had a good death. It has more meaning later on. and TWO VOTES for the trailer only three more hahahahaha**

**I am in Loki's Army: Delyla will be missed. Sort of. Here's the new chapter!  
**

**also LVB (guest): If you ever find this story again, I'm sorry about the title change. It might confuse some people. Especially those that search for the story title every day. It's great that you still want to review, though! FLANDERS whoot. European countries sound so much cooler than USA. Still trying to make the mate thing work... idk.**

**And here's the chapter! Remember to vote on the trailer and for my next story! Look's like I'm going to write about Luna Lovegood next~ (which I'm rather excited about, not going to lie)**

* * *

The sprint back to Italy didn't take too long. The sky was overcast, but of course, the one city that the vampires had chosen as their home was sunny.

"Seriously, sir Aro?" Jane grumbled, rearranging her cloak. The sun was sure to hit her skin somehow, but she decided that it was better than anything else. Aro gave her an exasperated look; he was growing tired of the most outspoken sibling. Alec caught the look and tried to silently warn Jane, who didn't catch either glance. Isabella just rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Can we leave the bickering until we get inside and away from this light?" she asked, putting a hand on Jane's shoulder. Jane jumped at the sudden contact, but she quickly recovered and sighed, agreeing. Caius whispered a "thank you!" to Isabella for breaking up the quarrel, and the crowd headed on.

Isabella fell back and found herself with Corin, Sulpicia, and Athenodora. While she hadn't really talked to the former two, Athenodora had continued to be a sort of kindred spirit to Isabella that none of the others really were, even her siblings. She nodded at the three female vampires.

"Isabella!" Sulpicia called out. "What are you doing here?"

The aforementioned vampire just shrugged. "There's not much else to do up there except hope that Jane is behaving, and Felix and Demetri have a handle on her as well."

Corin giggled slightly. Isabella was always slightly unnerved by Corin's skill of emotion manipulation, but if Athenodora could trust her (or at least, she seemed to), then she could try to. Sulpicia just laughed quietly in some sort of echo to Corin's high-pitched giggle.

The four females ran on in silence for a while, before Corin asked, "What is the castle like?"

Sulpicia's eyes fogged over slightly in nostalgia. "Well, it is tall and white. It's made of this stone that seems to sparkle in the sunlight. Ironic, if you ask me. ("She picked that one up from Aro," Athenodora whispered to Isabella.) The hallways are far too confusing for a human to be able to navigate without a map, but for us it is no problem. The main room where we brought in witnesses for our trials is huge with a high-arching ceiling and three magnificent thrones where our kings sat. And we three queens stood with them. Or," she and Athenodora shared a melancholy look, "I guess we two queens, now."

"What did happen to her?" Athenodora asked. Corin and Isabella shared a confused look.

"Sorry, happened to whom?" Corin asked, blinking.

Sulpicia closed her eyes, sighing. "Our dear sister. Marcus's mate, Didyme."

Isabella's eyes widened. "I assumed she was dead," she said haltingly.

Athenodora sighed. "That's the common consensus," she muttered under her breath.

"She had the innate ability to lift people's emotions. It wasn't really a gift, per se; she could identify the amount of cheer in someone's body and, if she wanted to, magnify it. She made Marcus so much happier than I would have thought possible, even without the gift. They were perfect for one another. Two halves of a whole, like true mates should be," Sulpicia murmured, twisting her pointer and middle fingers together to show how close the two were.

"One day, she disappeared."

Corin and Isabella's eyes widened. "But, how? Mates can't bear to be apart from one another."

Athenodora shrugged helplessly. "We don't know how. One moment, she's enjoying her time with us. She says she needs to hunt. Marcus asks if she wants someone to come with her, she says no, they embrace, she leaves, Aro wishes her luck. We were actually camping out, waiting for you and your siblings to grow older, Isabella," she smiled slightly at Isabella, "and she never returned."

"We sent out search parties. We hoped the village didn't burn her. We tried everything, but we didn't have Demetri, and Demetri doesn't know her mind. Truth be told, we lost her and we don't know how. Marcus and Aro were devastated, but Aro was the only one who could piece himself back together." Sulpicia fell silent as she thought about her brooding mate.

"The truth is, Didyme brought out the best of us without even trying," Athenodora continued from where Sulpicia stopped. "She just had to be there, and she was so innocent and pure that everyone loved her. There isn't much else to say about it."

Isabella nodded quietly and Corin didn't really do anything; she was thinking too hard to respond. "That is a sad story," Isabella said quietly.

Athenodora hazarded a glance towards Marcus. He made no sign of hearing their conversation. "We keep hoping that one day, she will return to us, but we know in our hearts that she's probably gone forever," she breathed.

Sulpicia began crying slightly, but the Volturi ran on, only stopping to dive into the ocean and swim the rest of the way to their castle.

"We're here. We're home," Caius announced, standing still and staring up at the palace-like building in front of him.

Jane's eyes widened when she saw it. It was the largest building she had ever seen, since she had only traveled to nearby villages to feed. It was the height of two churches and the width of four and made of what looked like pure marble and granite. It was the most beautiful thing she had seen. "Alec!" she whispered to him. "I know," he returned, eyes not leaving the sight.

Demetri smiled and pulled his mate close to him. "We have a home, Demetri!" Jane whispered excitedly. "An actual home with an actual door and glass windows!"

Isabella glanced at her siblings wistfully. Only lords had lived in such a grand place in their village. To imagine that they would get to live in a palace of their own was absolutely mindboggling.

Jane, Alec, and Renata ran off, shouting a bit, and danced around the courtyard. It didn't matter how long they had actually lived. They played like the children they were, and Demetri, Isabella, and a reluctant Felix stayed with them.

"I don't know how you can stand to be around her so often," Felix said to Demetri. The two had become close friends in their many odd little tests that Aro constantly gave (mostly just to track down prey and bring them back to him). Demetri chuckled. "Sometimes, I don't quite know why either," he responded with a purr.

Isabella rolled her eyes. "Alec! Jane! Renata! They're leaving us behind, you know!" she called out. The three stopped playing and turned to look at her. Three pairs of dancing, bright red eyes shimmered in the light, and their skin sparkled like broken glass.

"Alright, Isabella!" Alec called back. He reached out to grab Renata's hand and the two ran back. Jane pouted slightly before sighing and returning to the group.

Felix left first, and in a hurry. Demetri and Isabella exchanged an amused glance at his hasty retreat before ushering the three others into the castle. They caught up with the rest of the coven rather easily, even though they had to navigate winding halls and the confusing layout. The newcomers immediately began memorizing the castle's twists and turns, and soon they felt right at home.

Aro and Caius stopped walking suddenly. Isabella finally looked up to see the room that Sulpicia had described. Dust motes floated through the air, only clearly visible in the sunlight that burst through high-arching windows. The entire room was made out of the same material that the outside was, and the thrones looked almost built into the building itself. Marcus let out a sound of nostalgia and sadness, and his brothers looked over at him solemnly.

The triumvirate headed to their customary seats. The guard fanned out and around a small stage-like platform that the thrones sat on, and the kings sat in their seats, Aro in front with Marcus on his right and Caius on his left. Athenodora and Sulpicia stood behind their mates' thrones, and Isabella was struck with the sadness that Marcus looked utterly alone while his brothers could never be solitary.

Aro closed his eyes and let out a sigh. When he had opened them, he looked utterly elated. "My dears," he called to his guard joyously, "this will be our new home until our existences end. It was made to last the times as surely as we will, and I am sure we will have no need to leave it."

The guard collectively bowed to him and the others before silently dissipating. Once they left the room, Chelsea and Afton took charge quietly. They led the rest of the guard to a large room that had an elegant Asian-styled carpet and tapestries on the walls.

"Alright, to you new lot," Chelsea declared. "There are way too many rooms in this castle to even house all of the vampires in the world. Mated pairs can get their own room. There are quite a few large areas that are common rooms for us all to use, like this one. Some are filled with games and things like that. If you are ever wanting, just tell one of the kings and they will see to it that you get that. I will give you a room I think fits your needs, and if you want another, just wander through the empty ones until you find one that you think you will need."

Afton smiled. "Also," he added, "if you ever want to hunt, you must not do so within Volterra limits. We wish to create the illusion of safety from vampires within the vampire capital, so to speak. If you can, please refrain from drinking until you reach Florence or Milan. That is all from me."

Chelsea briskly took each vampire or pair and gave them a room by what she knew would be their preference. Alec and Renata, Jane and Demetri, and Isabella all had rooms close by each other, and they were allowed to fill them with whatever they wished.

The room was the size of Isabella's entire hovel from when she was human. It had a deep purple backdrop with white, black, and red embroidery. The image in the center depicted a Greek myth as well as a Christian biblical story. Isabella smiled slightly when she recognized them. _Atalanta and Esther?_ she thought in amusement. _That's interesting, to say the least._ She looked around the room again. It had two windows, slightly wider than the ones in the throne room, and one was completely floor-length. Tapestries hung nearby and were hooked to the wall in case she wanted to get rid of the sunlight, and a couple of lanterns were propped near the window.

Isabella wasn't sure what else she would want to put in the huge space for now. She thought that having a fireplace would be amusing, if only to ask Aro and see his reaction. In the end, she decided that she could craft one herself and put a lantern in it to create the image of a fireplace. Just to remind her of her humble beginnings as Isabella the village girl.

Jane squealed when she saw her room. It was outfitted similarly to Isabella's, only that the carpet was crimson and the embroidery white, black, and gold with images of Osiris and Isis sewn in. Demetri smiled at her actions as she flitted about from corner to corner and began to dance about again.

"You seem excited," he said in mock-surprise. She looked at him and just laughed out loud whimsically.

"It's just," she danced about again, completely giddy, "I've never been in a room so big and elegant! It's wonderful!"

Demetri was struck by her words. "What do you mean? Where did you live before you were turned?" he asked. The topic had never really come up in conversation.

"Isa and Alec and I lived in a little village hut," she sang out, not noticing the actual surprise on Demetri's face. "We collected wood to get food. It was a slow, poor, dirty existence, but look here, Demetri!" She had gotten distracted by the tapestry and the window. "It's a beautiful blue sky! Like my eyes were!" And so the conversation continued.

Alec was, as usual, less excited than Jane but more excited than Isabella. He stood in the doorway in surprise for a moment before hesitantly walking in, blinking. He turned around to see a surprised Chelsea. "You can't mean that we get all of this space to ourselves," he said.

She blinked. "Well, of course you do. There's plenty of space to go around. This castle's been dug underground for more space; this is barely anything."

Alec turned back around. Renata, who was much more accustomed to such spaces, clung to his arm and looked up at him, concerned. "Is something wrong, Alec?" she asked quietly. "N-no, it's just…" he walked about, dazed. "It's a heck of a lot bigger than I expected," he finished with a mutter. He expected a room that was maybe half the size of his old home. This was larger than the entire house. The carpet was a dark blue with, again, the white and black embroidery, this time accented with silver. Designs of the Odyssey swirled around the dark blue depths.

Renata hugged him from behind and just laid her head against his back. "Well, we're much more different than our human forms, now," she said with a whisper, "and our lifestyles should reflect that, no?"

Alec turned and hugged her back. "I guess so, Ren," he said with a sigh. He reached behind her slightly to close the door.

The others became just as well acquainted with their rooms. Isabella had wandered out and found one of the common rooms Chelsea had mentioned. She noticed that Demetri and Alec were on the ground, playing some sort of board game as Felix taught them the rules along with it. Jane and Renata were sitting off to the side and watching in amusement.

Isabella came over and sat next to Felix. "What are they doing?" she asked bluntly, staring at the carved ivory and ebony pieces.

"Playing shatranj," Felix responded, eyes glued to the board.

Isabella rolled her eyes, and Renata giggled from the opposite side. Alec glanced up momentarily before looking back down. "Don't distract me, Isa," he mumbled, staring in confusion at the elephants and odd riding devices in front of him.

Felix sighed again. "Faras move like this," he said in a voice that sounded as though he had explained it far too often for them already. He picked up a piece that resembled a warrior riding a horse and moved it in an L shape, over Demetri's black pieces, which held swords and fierce facial expressions.

"Wait, why can his move over mine?" Demetri asked. "Because this is a faras piece. Yours can move over his as well," Felix explained.

Jane rolled her eyes. "It's not that hard, guys," she mumbled.

Isabella laughed quietly. "What is the purpose of this game?" she asked Felix.

"To win," he responded, still intently staring at the board.

She sighed. "You're no help," she muttered.

Renata just giggled again.

Alec closed his eyes and sat still for a moment. "Alright, I think I understand this game now," he declared. Demetri gave him an incredulous look. "I'm still stuck on the difference between the fers and the pil," he grumbled.

Jane sighed before pushing her mate over and knocking him down. "Get out of the way, Demi. I've got this," she said with a wicked grin.

Demetri gave her a half-hearted glare before readjusting himself next to Isabella, who then moved to the other side, next to Renata.

The game immediately picked up. The twins glared at each other as they dueled through their polished game pieces. Jane moved her rukh to capture Alec's baidaq, he responded by sending out one of his pil. The game progressed on and on, with captured pieces being unceremoniously placed next to either player, until Jane triumphantly placed her last fers piece. "I won, brother," she declared with a smirk.

Alec sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He stared down at the pieces in front of him. "I guess you did," he said shortly. Jane just giggled and clapped her hands slightly.

"You're in a pleasant mood today, Jane," Isabella noted.

"Did you see those rooms, Isa?" Jane asked. "They're huge! They're the size of our old house!"

"It wasn't an impressive house to begin with," Alec said, raising an eyebrow at her. Jane just stuck out her tongue. "You're just mad that I beat you at this weird game." With that, she flounced to the other side of the room and pretended to stick her nose in the air. The entire room burst into laughter. She turned with a coy smile.

"Well, thank you, my dears!" she said, putting on an impression of Aro. She gave an extravagant bow and came back up. "I am proud of myself, if I do say so."

Isabella chuckled. "He's not going to like that, you know," she said.

Jane walked back over and flopped on the ground. "Like I care," she said with a scoff. "Let's play this game again."

As the sun set, its dying rays landed on the room of vampires rearranging white and black pieces on a checkerboard, getting ready to play through their first night in an actual home.

* * *

**For those who are curious, the game that Felix introduced the siblings and their mates to, shatranj, is the ancient form of chess. Yep. Heavy use of wikipedia for that one.  
**

**Thanks for reading! ~Shriayle**


	18. Apocalypse: A New Day

**Hey guys! Sorry for that extremely long break! As you probably noticed, I haven't deleted the last chapter yet. I'm still at this program for another 2 weeks, so until I have to leave, the message will stay up. This chapter has been written in every bit of time I could find, so there will be typos (also I'm not used to writing with my phone argh). Thanks for understanding!  
**

**Also please fill out the poll! It looks as though I will be writing Heir of Ravenclaw next, which I'm rather excited about. I've decided that you have until chapter 25 to vote on this poll, so get opinions in!  
**

**Replies:**

**wolfess49ers: You're the only one who tried to guess! xD I'm not telling you if you're right or not yet, though :P**

**SonjaSemeleCorvinus: Hmm, I haven't thought of that possibility, but I don't think it will work out with the way the story is going. I am considering both female and male candidates for mates, though.**

**Matthias Stormcrow: Holy crap that's a lot of reviews xDDD Thanks for your support!**

* * *

Isabella found herself staring intently into a dusty volume. Athenodora had taken her and Corin around the castle to show them the library. Although she was raised to read the Bible, Isabella' reading skill wasn't exactly the best in the castle, but she was determined to read more and work harder. Corin needed to find a specific text that Athenodora was adamant was in the room, so she had decided to tag along.

Athenodora walked up behind Isabella. "You're interested in that?" she asked curiously. "The dictation of Homer's _Iliad_?"

Isabella glanced at the front of the book. There were odd symbols that she couldn't really read. "Is that what those mean?" she asked, pointing at the ILIAD on the front.

Athenodora blinked. No matter how smart Isabella always seemed, she still only had a villager's education, although Athenodora seemed to forget that. "Well, we'll have to change that," she said, sitting down next to Isabella. Isabella gave her a confused look. "Change what, exactly?" she said, flipping through the undecipherable symbols in the book in front of her.

Athenodora grinned. "I'm going to teach you the other languages I know. Hopefully I can convince Caius to come and help me with this endeavor; I'm sure that he knows a few others as well."

Isabella eagerly agreed. Corin bowed slightly to Athenodora and exited while holding a slim volume, but the other two sat comfortably around a table, quietly discussing the Greek alphabet and conjugations. After an afternoon of working with Caius's mate, Isabella could read her way through the entire epic and could maintain a conversation about the characters. The two women talked vividly about Ajax's decisions and Odysseus's contribution.

Working with Athenodora was a mixed blessing. While it was worthwhile learning Latin, Ancient Greek, Gaulish, and Sanskrit, Athenodora taught her with an iron fist. She didn't let Isabella go until the younger vampire could understand everything about the new grammar pattern or the next new vocabulary or even just the pronunciations. Isabella never felt more relieved and more tired in her entire vampire existence.

She returned to the common room that Felix and Chelsea seemed to prefer to find Jane challenging Caius to a game of shatranj, the game Felix had explained earlier.

Jane sighed, leaning back slightly, as the vampire king claimed victory. "I was so close," she grumbled, arranging her pieces yet again.

Caius smirked at her. "There was only one mistake you really made, but it made your army crumble to pieces. Just keep that in mind. Don't rely on your intuition."

Jane glared at him half-heartedly before flopping onto her back. Isabella walked in to see Demetri poking her side, trying to elicit a reaction. Felix was sitting nearby, laughing loudly at the spectacle, and Caius and Alec were exchanging exasperated looks.

"This game again, Felix?" Isabella asked amusedly. The older vampire glanced to her and watched as she sedately sat down and looked at the pieces. She picked up one of the white elephants, the piece that Felix had called the 'pil.' "Is this just a war strategy game?" she asked, her eyes twinkling with humor.

Felix ran his right hand through his hair. "Well, yes," he mumbled.

"I didn't think you to be much of the strategizing type," Isabella murmured, examining the carved piece of ivory.

"Hey!" Felix protested indignantly. "Just for that, I challenge you to a game of shatranj! You do know the rules, right?"

Isabella rolled her eyes. "My mind is quicker than Demetri's. I remember."

Amid Demetri's protests and Caius's interested observations, Isabella and Felix set up the board with the pieces. Isabella thought briefly before beginning the game.

A couple of minutes later, Felix stared disbelievingly as Isabella examined the board after she made her move. "Did I win?" she asked. She was just as surprised as Felix was.

"I think you did," Felix responded. "I can see where your strategy started. When I moved my fers to the delta-4 position, you could move your rukh through and set up a cornering of sorts."

Jane giggled at Felix's stupor and congratulated her sister. Alec clapped quietly in a form of applause, and Demetri ended up joining in.

Caius glanced over at Isabella with renewed interest. "Isabella, would you dare play a game against me?" he asked. Isabella froze. "Erm," she coughed out. "Well, I guess so..." The two quietly reset the board.

Jane bounced in excitement. "Who do you think is going to win?" she whispered to Felix. He shrugged slightly. "Caius is the most skilled shatranj player I know, but I've never seen anyone else's mind work as fast as Isabella's," he responded. "This will be interesting, to say the least."

Isabella and Caius took turn playing. They exchanged moves the same way that fencers did: with extreme precision and purpose, all while keeping the main objective in mind. Caius raised an eyebrow when he saw what Isabella was doing. She had methodically placed her pieces closer and closer until he couldn't really play anything. He leaned back and tried to see how to get out of the situation, but in the end he gave up. He flicked his king over.

Isabella blinked again. "Giving up, Caius?" she asked incredulously. "I didn't think you had it in you to do that."

Caius shot her a glare. "You know as well as I that there is no fitting move that wouldn't end in disaster," he playfully growled back. Isabella just rolled her eyes.

Jane's eyes sparkled when she saw that her sister had beat the 'champion.' "Well done, Isa!" she cheered before realizing she had let Isabella's nickname slip. Looking embarrassed, she shrank next to Demetri, who just chuckled and squeezed her with an arm.

Alec giggled as well. It had been long since either twin had said such a personal name for their sister, but it still fit so well. Isabella smiled at Jane's embarrassment and patted her head sympathetically. Jane just pouted.

Caius watched the exchange with a small half-smile on his face. He himself had long since been forgotten by the others in the room, but he didn't mind. The interaction was enough to make up for the lack of attention from his guard.

"While it was nice to play against someone who actually knows what she's doing in this game," (Felix gave him an indignant look) "since you are back, Isabella, I would have to assume that Athena is now free. I'm off until next time," he said, nodding his head as he walked out of the room.

Alec nodded back to him. The younger vampire was happy that his master was beginning to relax around them. Although Caius had been stiff and sharp with them before, he now accepted them as members of the coven and treated them in that manner.

The shatranj game was the first of many more to come, all of which culminated to Caius's grudging but growing respect of Isabella's innate strategic ability. Eventually, he even offered to teach her some of his knowledge as well as collaborate with her, gradually warming up to her bright ideas and keen instinct.

Marcus relied on her, and, as his apprentice, she made sure to make time every so often to go and talk to him. Occasionally, she broached the topic of Didyme or maybe his life prior to being changed, but they mostly just talked mindlessly about anything that they could think of.

It was Aro that struggled to maintain a close relationship with Isabella or, for that matter, any of the siblings. She didn't trust his sheer command over many guards through Chelsea and worked to fight against his leadership when he tried to exert it over her. "Isabella, please," he had sighed exasperatedly one day. "I try to be a good leader. I will release Corin and Santiago as soon as they show their loyalty to our coven."

"How could they do that if they're bound to you all the time?" she hissed back. Aro found himself lost for words; he really couldn't think of any way to counter that. Isabella's crimson eyes flashed proudly and she turned and whisked herself away. "Isabella!"

Soon afterwards, the castle whispered that Aro wasn't using Chelsea's powers anymore. Whispers outside of the castle had a different opinion. Rumors spread of what the Volterra coven, or now Volturi, we're doing with Chelsea's abilities in regards to new members. Some said that they bound anyone who wavered, but the most captivating idea was that the Volturi took every gifted vampire and bound them into service. The Romanians were the main culprits in spreading these ideas: after their fall from grace and the depression resulting from losing their mates, Vladimir and Stefan cultivated the pure rage in their beings for the Italian coven. Aro heard of these thoughts from other vampires and he worried constantly for the wellbeing of his guards.

He and the brothers were the only ones who even knew of these thoughts. The guards in the castle remained blissfully unaware of the gossip raging beyond their marble walls.

* * *

Alec wandered through the castle hallways. The section of the castle he was in was much different from the rest; it was made of a darker wood and stone, with the occasional white highlight. Pondering this, he meandered further without realizing that he was about to walk into Caius until he did.

The ever-young adult turned slightly and glared at Alec. The ever-preteen bowed awkwardly and muttered out an apology. Caius rolled his eyes before turning back around.

"Pardon me, master, but why are you in this unused section?" Alec asked, his head still bowed.

"Tell me, apprentice, do you ever have too many memories to possibly keep track of every detail of every one?" Caius responded, as if he didn't hear Alec.

Alec blinked. "Er, well, I guess so," he said, straightening up. "But aren't our minds supposed to be able to winnow the details out for us?"

Caius nodded slightly to himself, his back to Alec. "That is what we once used this room for," he said.

Alec made a confused noise. Caius gave a grim chuckle and opened the door, gesturing for Alec to come in with him. Alec obliged.

The room had a high vaulted ceiling, not nearly as high as the throne room, but higher than the hallway by far. The walls were intricately carved from white marble on the same ebony background as the hallway had. However, these weren't the details that interested Alec the most. Canvases and painting covered the walls, held up by invisible pins, of specific moments of lives. Sketchbooks bound by leather were strewn across tables that spanned the room, blank or otherwise. Pencils, paints, charcoal, erasers, colored pencils, ink, and pastels were neatly organized in one corner, along with blank canvases.

"What is this place?" Alec asked, wonder in his voice. Caius smiled to himself (the first time Alec had ever seen Caius at peace without Athenodora around).

"This is the memory room." Caius walked around a bit, as if in a daze. "This is where we would come and sketch out a particular memory that was bothering us at the time. Sometimes, little images come sparking into existence and we can't get rid of them, so we drew them down to the little details."

Caius turned to Alec. "You and all of the other guards may now come here and draw your thoughts. It helps."

And with that, Caius swept out of the room, leaving Alec alone to wonder at the beauty of the pictures covering the walls. He recognized Aro, Caius, Sulpicia, Athenodora, and Marcus, but there was one woman with dancing eyes and strawberry blonde hair that he didn't recognize. Her face seemed to resemble Aro's. "That must be Didyme," he mused out loud. She seemed the type of person that everyone loved, that gave everyone pure joy to be with. He mourned her loss briefly.

Alec turned and left the room, closing the door gently as possible, before returning the land of granite and marble.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! I'll try to update again soon!**

**~Shriayle**


	19. Darkening: Internal Conflict

**Tensions rise as fights break out; welcome to DARKENING, the fourth arc of _The Life of a Phoenix_. This will be a rather long set of chapters that leads up to some major plot points of the story: the actual _Twilight_ timeline. Thanks for sticking with me, and hope you keep on doing so!**

**In other news, I seem to have crested 100 reviews, followers, and favorites. I cannot describe in words how elated I was when I found out. Thanks for supporting this little doodle that I wrote on a whim, and I hope you are just as excited about the future's writing as I am.**

**REPLIES:**

**Arabella Whitlock: That is a nice idea, but it would involve making romance a key issue of the plot. As of now, I want to just focus on what is to come later. For that reason, while I will consider your suggestion, it is not likely to happen in the story. Sorry.**

**Guest: I'm going to assume there's only one of you xD Thanks for your support, and I'm glad that you like it.**

**LVB (Guest): Hello again! Glad you didn't lose us. Bella's character always infuriated me in the books and the one movie I actually watched (though I may have to watch them for the trailer later), so I much prefer my reimagined Isabella. The memory room will come to play at a future date; I was thinking about it and realized it should be revealed sooner than I intended. Science camp has also been fun, but working for two days on a poster for research that my group did was not fun. HIV is interesting and all, but I have only been reading articles on what could be a possible cure for the past week...**

**death2luv (Guest): I'm happy that you like my little story! Unfortunately, I'm not sure if I will write any more Twilight fanfictions after _The Life of a Phoenix _ends. I really don't have too many other ideas to use.**

* * *

Isabella nervously readjusted her hood. She was curious about what the human world was like after she was locked in the castle, and she finally got the gumption to leave for a day. Of course, Caius had been completely against it, saying it wasn't strategic, and Aro had just pursed his lips. She reassured them that she would be careful enough to avoid being seen; to her slight surprise, Marcus had backed up her claim. The older vampire trusted Isabella's intuition. So now, she found herself with a large pouch of florins and just as much curiosity.

She found herself in a peculiar sort of bazaar. Stalls with merchants and salespersons of all kinda filled the small village square. Shouting filled the air, and stenches clogged her nose, making it harder to smell the humans around her as well. _Mixed blessing,_ she thought wryly.

She approached the first stall. Fabrics covered in embroidery were shown off flamboyantly, glittering red and green and blue and gold in the light. She fingered one gently; it was a semicircle covered in designs of some sort of story.

"Benvenuto! C'è qualcosa che vuoi?" (Welcome! Is there anything you'd like?) Isabella flinched at the enthusiastic voice in her ear. A slightly stout, middle-aged man from Florence (he smelled of sweat and herbs) stood next to her, dark brown eyes twinkling, beaming.

Her mind stuttered into Italian and began to rapidly translate. "No sir," she responded in perfect Italian. "I'm just looking around for now."

"Ah, you speak the dialect beautifully! Whatever you need, it is here for textiles! Just let me know, hmm?" He gave her one last wide smile before descending on another unfortunate customer. Isabella blinked; she was lucky that he hadn't seen her eyes. How had he snuck up behind her like that? She must not be paying enough attention. Isabella turned her attention back to the embroidered fabric in front of her.

There was an interesting design, to say the least. Isabella recognized the creatures, people, and events from Greek mythology, specifically the story of the Golden Fleece. She fingered the glittering ram, the two twins clinging to it for dear life.

"Did you find anything you'd like?" The boisterous salesman was back. Isabella nodded slightly and gestured to the carpet she held. She paid the man an absurd number of florins before setting off again.

At the next stall, Isabella came across an assortment of seeds. She bought exotic, colorful varieties of blossoms as well as seeds for creeping vines and other shrubbery. She found old volumes of books she was curious about, like an old edition of the Holy Book she once prized above all other possessions and a copy of _Beowulf_. She bought chairs. She bought some tiny trinkets. She even got paintings that seemed to last forever. With these possessions and a semi-full bag of florins, Isabella returned to her room in Volterra. Jane teased her for returning with so much, but her jesting had a slightly envious tone. Catching her jealousy, Isabella promised to take her to the bazaar as soon as possible.

Jane couldn't be placated. "Why do you get to do the interesting things?" Jane whined. "I want to do all that, too!" She then began to pout.

Isabella stopped in the middle of moving a chair before whipping around to stare at her sister. "Jane, I'm not in the mood for this," she said with a tired voice. "I don't want to squabble right now."

Jane growled slightly. "Does that mean you don't want to spend any time listening to what I want anymore?!" she shrieked. "Nowadays, it's all Caius and Felix and Chelsea and Athenodora! It's just shatranj and reading and strategizing! You never take time out for us anymore! Why won't you! I hate you, Isa!" Jane stormed out of Isabella's room. The sound of her light footsteps followed her to a room close by (probably hers). A door slammed.

Isabella stared blankly after her. Slowly, her face contorted into some unknown emotion, one that blended upset and anger. She threw down her hands in disgust. Not disgust for Jane, but disgust for the way she treated her family. She had been slightly neglecting them; she didn't know much about Jane and Demetri's relationship or Alec and Renata's. All she knew were the strategies that Caius taught her and the books Athenodora read with her. Isabella raised her hands and clutched at her mahogany hair and yanked.

She let out a wounded, frustrated, animalistic yowl. She screamed until her throat ran out of oxygen and she had to gasp to regain herself. Isabella heaved and shook her head, her locks flying everywhere. She sighed to herself and began to halfheartedly drag the chairs around the room again.

Jane slammed the door before collapsing against it and sliding down to the ground. She shook with tearless sobs and wrapped her arms around herself in an effort to control herself. She heard Isabella's anguished scream from far off.

_Goddamn it!_ She growled to herself. She felt herself tremble and tried to control the odd body spasms. She took shaky, unnecessary breaths.

"Jane?" Jane glanced up. Demetri had carefully nudged the door open a crack and was now staring down at her with concern.

"What?" she snarled. Part of herself felt sorrow at the hurt expression in Demetri's eyes, but she didn't let herself stay hung up on it. She whipped her head back as she sank back into her misery. "Just leave me alone, Demi," she grumbled.

Demetri sighed and closed the door again, leaving Jane to her thoughts. The blonde vampire had been brooding for a couple of hours when she heard a quiet knock on the door. She yanked the door open and snapped out "I thought I told you to leave me alone!" before realizing that it was her sister in front of her, not her mate.

Isabella held her hands up. "Truce, damn it," she said with a chuckle, making Jane eye her suspiciously. Her sister didn't always say such words.

"I wanted to get some help with these," Isabella explained, showing Jane the seeds she had bought. "Master Marcus is letting us use a garden near here for our own fun. D'you want to help? I've asked Renata as well."

Jane couldn't speak. No matter how badly she treated her sister, Isabella seemed to bounce back. She nodded wordlessly, and almost immediately Isabella's posture relaxed slightly and she nodded a silent thanks to Jane.

When they met in the garden to plant the flowers that Isabella had bought, they didn't talk about the row from earlier. In fact, they never take about that moment again; it was never formally addressed, but Jane knew that she had been forgiven.

Their garden was within the castle's walls, but it bloomed beautifully. Flowers filled everywhere not covered in cobblestone and grass, and the sun's rays warmed everything in sight. This was the one place that the vampires could sparkle in and not feel constrained. However, the other inhabitants of the castle never stepped foot into this wonderful space. As beautiful as it seemed, it was also delicate and fragile looking. The others didn't want to ruin its alive beauty by entering without the siblings' permission.

Alec and Renata found themselves wandering into the garden one morning. Renata gave a yelp of surprise when a small white fleck blew past her face.

Alex glanced over to her, and she gave him a sheepish glance in return. He gently squeezed her shoulder in reassurance and smiled. "What is it, Ren?" he asked.

"It's just..." She gestured around her. "I didn't expect it to be winter."

Alec followed her gaze up to the sky. More white flakes were drifting down slowly and we're piling all around them. He heard Renata giggle slightly before he felt her ram into him and push him into the snow.

Floundering slightly, Alec soon managed to right himself and glare at her. She was still clinging to him and staring up with large, irresistible eyes. _Damn her..._ he thought, staring into their crimson depths.

He leaned forward and met her lips with his. Her eyelashes fluttered with surprise before her eyes closed in bliss. The two sat in the same position, adjusting in minute increments until Alec was somehow on top of her. Renata gasped slightly for unneeded air while her mind registered the vulnerable position. Alec smiled a bit and chuckled. He lifted a hand and carefully stroked her cheek. She leaned into his touch, melting into his hand.

Alec sat up and offered the same hand to her, as she was on her back. They sat up, snow covering their cloaks, figures in perfect tandem as they relaxed on the snow.

At that exact moment, a figure flew past and knocked into Alec. He got up scowling, ready to respond in kind, when he saw his older sister standing next to him, a devious grin on her face.

At the same time, snow flew past Alec's right ear and almost hit Isabella, who dodged at the last second. Alec heard Demetri give a slight groan behind him and laughed out loud.

He grabbed Renata's hand and pulled her up. He directed them away from the line of fire and quickly picked up a bit of snow. He hurled it towards Jane, who had emerged with Demetri, and laughed at her indignant response.

"Alec, I'm going to get you!" Jane shrieked, staring him down and chasing him at breakneck speeds. Noticing the imminent danger, Alec darted away as well, nearly crashing into Felix (who Demetri had persuaded to come to the garden). The larger vampire's eyes widened at the twins' childish antics and even wider when Isabella joined in and leaped at them, pushing into a snow drift behind them. The twins came up slightly upset; Isabella emerged with dancing eyes.

They spent the rest of the day basking in the snow's crystalline light.

* * *

Isabella glanced at her hands. As usual, everything was impeccable. Her nails shone, her skin was glittering mysteriously, and her body was completely devoid of hairs. She glanced back up to an exasperated Marcus. He had been trying to discuss _Beowulf_ with her, but she had just ignored his speech.

"Did you even hear any of my words, Isabella?" he asked with a sigh. She shrugged nonchalantly. "The only thing I've been thinking of is my siblings," she responded lightly.

"They're on their first mission, correct?" Marcus asked, realizing that they had been absent.

She nodded wordlessly and stuck the top part of a finger into her mouth. She slowly began to chew on the granite-hard appendage, feeling it grind to powder between her teeth. After a few moments, she withdrew the finger and examined the nail again.

Still perfect. Maybe slightly less pristine, but not noticeable to any mortal thing.

Marcus chuckled silently at her impatience and worry. "Fear not, Isabella," he murmured loudly enough for her to hear. "Your siblings will be safe with Demetri and Felix. You must learn to trust them."

"It's not Jane and Alec I mistrust," Isabella grumbled, "it's Demi and Felix. Demetri tends to be less mature than his age, and Felix is too strong. He's still at newborn level. He's centuries old. Isn't that a bit wrong to you as well?"

Marcus thought about it for a second before shaking his head. "It is not odd at all, Isabella," he whispered. She cocked an eyebrow at him. "Well, not the worrying," he clarified. "Felix's strength scares me as well."

"I'm not scared," she muttered like a petulant child. Marcus shook his head in amusement and turned back to his book.

Isabella sighed before doing the same.

* * *

Alec strayed behind Jane. He could feel her anger growing and decided that, just this once, he wasn't going to hold her back.

It had been a few months since the twins, Demetri, and Felix had been sent to find another coven. They were apparently succubi who revealed themselves to humans far too often. They had apparently also had ties to the Romanian coven and were still friendly to them, and Aro wanted them out of the picture.

However, Demetri hadn't been able to discern the proper trail and Felix had been jabbing him for it. Jane had allowed this abuse to continue for some time before letting herself lose her temper and begin to start fuming. Alec wanted to watch it play out.

They were standing on some sort of dark stone overlook. A short wall, as high as Jane's stomach, surrounded the point.

"I was just saying that maybe you didn't track the right vampire again, Demetri," Felix said, shrugging slightly. Demetri felt another small sting in the pit of his stomach as he felt the insult twitch, but he didn't let himself feel anything because of it. Jane wasn't as composed.

"Will you _shut up_?!" she growled, turning on him suddenly. Felix raised his hands casually and gave her an easy smile.

"Calm down, Jane," he said soothingly. His arms lowered as they rested behind his head. He closed his eyes. "Just a little jab at Demetri here."

"Like all the other _little jabs, _Felix?" Jane growled. He shrugged again, eyes still closed.

Jane felt her fingers dig into her palms. Alec decided that enough was enough.

"Guys, come on," he murmured, tugging at Jane's arm. "Just get along until we get back to the castle."

Jane let out a shaky breath and straightened out of her previously offensive position. "Yes," she breathed, eyelids fluttering. She turned and moved as if to leave.

"Don't worry, Alex, I could have taken her," Felix said insolently. He had long since forgotten his previous fear of the female vampire.

"My name is Alec," the vampire in question said, gritting his teeth. Felix faked a yawn. "Mmhmm," he muttered, stretching again. "Well, back to work. Get anything yet, Demetri?"

"How about instead of bothering me, you tried to help out?" Demetri muttered. While Felix was his best friend, he had a tendency to be completely not tactful, which resulted in some bad situations. Like now.

"It's your job, right? You three do the tracking and nonviolent stuff and I just come in and kill for ya, not much else to it," Felix said.

"_That's it_," Jane snarled. She turned quickly on Felix, who had turned his back on her. The large vampire suddenly let out an inhuman scream before arching backwards and collapsing downwards shakily. Jane gave a sadistic smirk and pushed herself to find every ounce of hatred, of fury, of disgust, of pain that she could muster against this arrogant being.

A few seconds later, Alec appeared in front of her, almost in her line of fire. She couldn't force herself I get him; for whatever reason, something within her didn't allow for it to happen. She didn't hear his warnings, just shrieked at him to "move, damn it!" and she most certainly didn't sense Demetri's approach from behind. The taller vampire quickly picked Jane up and embraced her. She was still caught up in her dark haze, screeching at Felix's twitching form, struggling against Demetri's attempts to mollify her.

Alec slapped her across the face. She immediately snapped out of it, snarling at Alec instead. "What?" she grumbled.

He wordlessly moved away from her line of sight. Felix's motionless form took her breath away, and she stumbled backwards, hyperventilating.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no," she babbled, eyes still locked onto his form. "I did this, I did this...!" She tore herself away from the others.

"Jane!" Demetri moved as if to follow her, but Alec caught him and held him back. He glared at his mate's brother. "I need to help her," he stressed.

"Then leave her be," Alec responded firmly. "She will come back when she wants to. And when she does, we need to go find these succubi."

Sighing, Demetri gave up and nodded sullenly. Alec nodded ok return and sat down next to Felix, waiting for his sister to come back and colleague to recover from her attack.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! I will try to keep a regular updating schedule when I return to school. **

**~Shriayle**


	20. Darkening: Of Ardor and Fury

**Hey guys! It's currently midnight where I am, and what does that mean? I'm finally back home :D I'll try to write more now; I'm getting rather excited actually. The real plot of this story is approaching~~ Something to look forward to, I guess.**

**Someone asked me for a timeline a long time ago; I'm planning to post one in a couple chapters' time on the extra site on my profile. I'll let you know when I update that. Also the trailer is in progress! I have clipped many portions of the movies to use; now to edit them. And set them to music. If anyone's curious, the theme song/main song that I think represents this story is "The Mother We Share" by CHVRCHES. It's more the lyrics than anything. That's the song that the trailer will be set to :)**

**REPLIES:**

**LVB (Guest): Camp was so much fun! I did burst into tears every time I tried to talk about it to someone for a few days afterwards though. (I'm rather happy I can answer that part completely now)  
**

**Matthias Stormcrow: Thanks for the support!**

**I am in Loki's Army: UPDATES YEAH!**

**natcityjp: Felix is too much fun to play with :) Also he's kinda dumb in my version, it seems.  
**

**emmacv: Thanks!**

* * *

The four guards watched silently as the six women in front of them laughed and joked with one another, sitting around their dinner. One, clearly the leader, was watching the rest with a maternal gleam in her eyes and a calm smile on her lips. Two seemed similar enough to be sisters, even down to the fiery hue of their hair. Those two sat next to each other, leaning, happily grinning.

Jane's eyes stung slightly. She didn't want to destroy the family. But they had exposed themselves to the humans far too much; there were too many rumors of the pale, hard succubi that attracted the townspeople, some of which never walked away from them. They were thought of as dangerous, but irresistible. The same way all vampires were.

The way that Aro had forbidden vampires to act.

But here these vampires were, huddled around three dead humans, occasionally sipping their blood, but mostly just laughing and dancing. This was wrong, completely wrong.

What had Hilda taught her five newborns? Had she taught them to respect their prey? Clearly not, for there were three cooling carcasses right there, with strays hungrily waiting a safe distance for the bloodsuckers to leave. Had she taught them the rule of exposure?

Jane held out a hand slightly: Felix had begun to move forward. The burly vampire shot her a dark look, which the smaller vampire returned with a calm apathy.

"We wait, Felix," she intoned. He nodded brusquely before backing away into the shadows.

The one with brownish-blonde hair, Hilda, glanced up slightly. She had sensed another presence; if it was a human, then her coven had to disappear again.

"_Kommt, meine Kinder, wir müssen in der Nacht._" (Come, my children, we must melt into the night) Hilda purred. The other five vampires glanced at her: the two with hair red as flame, the one with hair dark as raven's feathers, the one with hair yellow as the sun's rays, the one with hair brown as coffee. They nodded as one and quietly began to get up. Hilda nodded in approval and turned to walk away. She hadn't gotten farther than three steps when she noticed Jane in front of her.

Fear rose in Hilda. "Witch girl," she hissed out at the smaller girl in Italian. Jane raised an eyebrow.

"That's not very nice," she chided. Another vampire, the one with brown hair and red eyes (though, Jane noted with amusement, that wasn't much help, as everyone had red eyes) snarled, "Don't talk to our sire like she is vermin."

Hilda looked back desperately at her charges. The other three cloaked figures had surrounded them, the two larger ones holding two of her girls at once. She let out a strangled cry.

"Please, don't hurt them, I'll do anything," Hilda begged.

Jane let out an unamused chuckle. "Why does everyone think we are the bad guys, again?" Jane drawled. Demetri rolled his eyes while holding onto the two ginger vampires, both of whom were struggling to defend their leader. "Jane, m'dear, don't taunt them," he called out.

Jane let out a sound, although the reason why was incomprehensible. It could have been to acknowledge Demetri's words, it could have been to try and calm the others down.

"Listen, Hilda, the last time we saw you, you only had three. One with hair as red as flame, one with hair as fair as snow, and one with hair as dark as night. Why the additional ones? We asked for no more exposure. As safety."

"I can't help it!" Hilda whimpered. "Their situations, if only your leader saw them, if only he would come with you."

Jane tutted slightly. "Master Aro cannot be bothered with sweeps of the vampiric community. You know this," she said, spitting out the _Master_ with slight disdain.

The brunette noticed the disgust. "Why do you hate your master so?" she called out. "Noela, don't!" one of the red-haired vampires called out after her. She shooed them off with a gesture before continuing, trying to fight out of Alec's grip. "Why not get rid of him and make yourself happier?"

Alec's eyes widened with horror. Hilda closed hers in despair. There was no saving Noela now.

Jane closed her eyes as well, but in pity. She opened them and the emotion was visible to everyone. "You have a strong spirit, newborn. Noela, was it?"

"Don't call me that," Noela growled uncertainly. Hilda let out a small sob.

Jane sighed. "Pity we have no reason to offer you a place. There is only so much room in our castle. I think that if our paths met but sooner, I would have liked you as a friend and been able to convince our master to let you join."

She stepped away from Hilda and walked towards Noela, who was shrinking farther and farther away. "However," Jane breathed, "after those words of _treason_, I can't let you go now. We were going to, with only a warning, but…"

"Please, she is only a newborn, don't kill her, kill me, please," Hilda choked out. Jane glanced over in sympathy. "If Aro sees my mind and sees that I hesitated, he would have my head, mate or no," Jane stated.

Alec shook his head. "It will be painless," he promised quietly. Noela's eyes widened as he wrapped them both in his mist, to which he was impervious but she wasn't.

"Felix, come here. Leave those two with Demi."

The larger vampire obeyed solemnly. The two girls he had been holding slumped against the two that Demetri had been guarding. The four watched with wide eyes as their sister was torn apart and set on fire.

Hilda let out a choked sob again and fell to her knees. "My little Noela," she whispered, reaching towards the flames.

"NO!" The raven-haired girl threw herself into the flames, holding onto the ash. "NOEL! NOEL!" She sobbed into her hands and curled up on her side, letting the flames wash over her as well, body crumbling as venom leaked out.

"Mary," one of the other girls whispered. It had been one of the red-haired girls, the younger looking one.

Hilda was almost inconsolable now. She was crying out like a wounded animal, like a mother whose heart had been ripped out and dashed to pieces by her own child.

The two sisters watched their coven mates burn. One, the one who appeared older, turned slowly to Felix. Her face slowly lit up with rage.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" she shrieked, throwing herself at the burly vampire. "WHY?! THEY WERE MATES! YOU KILLED THEM! WHY?!" she screeched.

"I'LL TEAR YOU APART! I'LL MAKE IT SO THAT ARO-BASTARD-MASTER OF YOURS CAN'T DO SHIT ABOUT IT!" The girl threw herself at Felix, wrenching his arm behind him. Or, at least, trying to. Felix didn't let her do so.

He glanced at Jane. "Again?" he asked, pain in his eyes. As violent as he seemed, he hated death as much as she did, and she knew.

Jane closed her eyes. "We cannot fail Master Aro," she choked out.

The other sister watched as her older sister burned in flames. Hilda was almost silent, sobs wracking her tiny frame, as she watched her daughters burn one by one. The younger sister began to crawl backwards, eyes wide.

_She seems around Isabella's age_, Jane realized with a start and a stab to her heart. _If Alec and I died, what would Isa do?_ Jane watched silently as the younger sister stumbled to her feet and continued scurrying backwards until she threw herself away and ran. Jane let her. She let her go.

_Let her grieve._

There were only two vampires left now. One was Hilda, the other the blonde. The blonde vampire had collapsed into the fetal position, trembling, at the beginning of the trial, but now she grew still. Felix picked her up gently and held her to himself.

"Hilda, what will you do?" Alec asked gently. Jane shot a look to her brother. "Will you make another coven, with these same risks? Will you try to kill yourself to join your children? Or will you search for a mate and give up on your dreams to save every poor girl in the continent?"

Hilda looked up at Alec, straight into his eyes. Without a word, she got to her feet steadily and held herself up. With a defiant gleam in her eyes, so much different from the maternal one she had not half an hour ago, she walked backwards deliberately and threw herself on the bonfire Felix had made.

Jane watched as she burned silently, still blinking until the flames consumed her and reduced her to dust.

Jane let out a shaky breath. Demetri immediately went to her and embraced her as she sobbed into his chest. He made comforting, quiet noises as she whimpered into him, traumatized by the mother's last act of despair. She began to grip his cloak, his shirt, anything she could to try and convince herself that it was all a horrific nightmare that she had to endure, that the morning would come, a lie that would be so much more believable if they could just _sleep, God damn it_!

The blonde vampire watched her outburst of pain from Felix's arms. Never had she thought the Volterra coven capable of such compassion, towards their own or towards others. She settled back down in the other vampire's arms.

Felix merely readjusted his arms. They seemed to fit like pieces of a puzzle. She sat stock-still before wagering a glance up just as he glanced down. Their eyes met.

Alec looked over at the two, who were still frozen in shock. He looked back at his sister and Demetri and grimaced.

_Oh, great, _he thought sardonically, rolling his eyes. He tossed the human bodies nonchalantly onto the fire and watched the conflagration burn faster with the new kindling. _This return trip is going to be _so_ much fun, what with two mated pairs now._

* * *

Aro chuckled. Felix bowed his head slightly and withdrew his hand from Aro's.

"Ah, but what great pleasure it is to bring you here, ah..?"

"Heidi," the vampire filled in. She gave Aro a charming smile. "My name is Heidi."

Aro nodded and turned around, pacing away. "So, ah," he said in his odd, bird-like way, "do you have any gift, really?"

Heidi shuffled her feet slightly. Nervously. Isabella noted this change in emotion from her place in the shadows.

"I-I may have caused the downfall of my coven, sir," she whispered. Aro raised an eyebrow. He settled back into his throne, much to his brothers' relief (they were tired of his theatrics).

"Speak," he commanded.

"My amplification," Heidi said carefully, "is my charisma, Hilda believed. She thought that I could draw anyone to me. It was how we hunted, but too many were attracted. We tried to move constantly, but wherever we went, whispers followed. They called us prostitutes, whores, to try and get us to stay in one place to catch us."

"And burn you at the stake?" Isabella bit her lip. It wasn't Jane that had spoken out, but Alec. He stepped forward, his visage devoid of emotion.

Heidi blinked. "Excuse me?" she said.

Alec shook his head and retreated. "Nothing," he breathed slightly.

Isabella just rolled her eyes at him. He snorted quietly in response.

Aro sighed in irritation. "Please, continue. I apologize for that interruption."

Heidi blinked again before deciding to wave it off. "It is fine. We were chased from place to place. We ended up in Strasbourg, where you found us. Your guard know the rest."

Aro sank back into his chair even further. He closed his eyes. "Hmm," he intoned.

"Well, I don't see why she can't stay," Caius muttered. Isabella shot him an incredulous look. "She is Felix's mate, after all, and she should become a part of the guard."

"No." Aro and Caius started, but Marcus smiled slightly. He had expected Isabella's protests.

"Isabella?" Aro asked, a shocked look on his face. The mentioned vampire walked forward a few steps before taking her hood off almost daintily. She looked Heidi straight in the eyes and saw nothing but a willingness to learn.

"Heidi will stay in the castle with the wives, Corin, Santiago, Afton, Chelsea, Renata, and I," Isabella declared. She lifted her chin slightly as though daring others to protest. Which, of course, they did.

"But why?" Aro asked, fascinated.

"Her gift would be of no use to you, sir Aro," Isabella responded lightly. "And she would help as a fisher of sorts. You know how much you hate it when the citizens of Volterra believe their rulers to be supernatural." It was an inside joke of sorts; the guard teased Aro about his fear quite a bit.

Aro sighed, a slightly annoyed look gracing his features. "Well, I suppose…"

Isabella nodded in affirmation before putting her hood back on and bowing away.

"Very well," Aro said, this time to a very confused Heidi. "You will not be a guard. You will stay here and help manage the castle."

"Thank you for this opportunity," Heidi said, the confused look still present on her face.

Aro gestured to Felix. "Show her your room. Make her comfortable. Then, find Isabella and ask her to help our new recruit out."

Felix nodded slightly. "I will do what I can, sir," he responded with a slight bow. Felix walked away, Heidi following him.

Jane and Alec exchanged amused glances before bursting into laughter.

"What is it?" Demetri asked, exasperated.

"How many florins would you bet that those two won't be emerging from their room for days?" Jane chortled.

Demetri grimaced at the mental image that ensued.

"I would say weeks," Alec responded just as light-heartedly.

"Would you two stop gambling on foolish things?" Isabella had walked up to them, bemused, when she heard what they were discussing. The twins shrugged. Isabella's mouth suddenly curled into a slight smirk.

"If not, then it's going to take at least a fortnight for them to even think about leaving," she added, chuckling to herself. Jane and Alec soon joined her laughing, leaving Demetri to wonder if he was the only one that hadn't gone insane.

* * *

Much as Isabella had predicted, it took much too long for anyone to convince the new mates to emerge from their room. Isabella had chanced a look through its open doors once and saw only broken furniture. How it broke, she didn't know and didn't want to know.

Jane shuddered every time she thought of it. As much as she _sort of _liked Felix and as much as she pitied Heidi for the horror she went through, Jane couldn't just let them have their happiness. It felt kind of weird to think about what was happening in the room. Demetri felt the same way. His missions were odd without his friend, yet he didn't want to pull Felix away from whatever (or whoever, Demetri added wryly) he was doing. Finally, the day came when Aro became fed up with the nonstop mating.

"Would someone take care of the elephant in the room?" he asked his entire guard. They exchanged amused looks. They all knew what he spoke of.

"What would you have us do?" Santiago responded. "No one wants to be the one to do such a thing."

Corin nodded. "They're happy. I don't want to be the one to ruin that when I have a gift to make others happy." Her simplistic logic apparently made sense to Aro because he just nodded and moved on to the next person.

"Their bond is strong. Let them forge it," Chelsea said serenely.

"I refuse." "As do I." The twins spoke almost in sync. Jane raised an eyebrow at him, Alec just maintained a steady look.

Isabella remained silent, but Aro didn't ask her.

Afton sighed. "I'm the only one who could logically do it," he spoke up. The others glanced over before realizing he had vanished from sight again. Isabella saw him raise his thumb up at her. She rolled her eyes at him.

Aro nodded. "Afton, now would be a good time," he said.

The guard sighed before wrapping his grey cloak around his neck. He carefully made his way out of the room and silently walked down the hall to Felix's.

The door was slightly ajar, but Afton still had to squeeze through it. The room was dark, but his sharp vision could still catch everything inside.

He walked into a respite between their lustful activities. They were both lying on the floor, the bed long since demolished, surrounded by scraps of cloth. The only thing preventing Afton from seeing the place they interlocked were their bodies, for which he was thankful of. The only intact piece of clothing seemed to be Felix's cloak. They were lying against each other, whispering in each other's ear.

Afton decided that enough was enough and that he did not want to be present if they chose to start again.

"Felix," Afton called out, making himself visible. The immediate reaction was funny, even to him. Heidi had shrieked slightly and backed away (Afton averted his eyes quickly enough to avoid seeing any unnecessary body parts) and Felix had just sighed and sat back on his haunches.

"You couldn't have knocked?" Felix deadpanned. Afton just shrugged nonchalantly before flinging the cloak at Felix. "Put that on so I can look you dead in the eyes," Afton grumbled, eyes still closed.

He heard the rustling of cloth and Felix's grunt. He opened his eyes to see Felix with a cloak wrapped around himself. "At least you look more presentable now," Afton joked.

"What brings you here?" Felix asked. Heidi was still crouched by the wall, shocked at Afton's sudden appearance. Afton noticed and unclasped his own cloak. "Lend that to your mate there, first of all," Afton said. Heidi took the offered cloak and gave back a grateful smile.

"The master wants you out soon, Felix. It's great to see you happy and all, but enough's enough. You'll get plenty of time to throw the sausage in the hallway later."

Afton got up and strode out of the door, leaving a flabbergasted Felix and a mortified Heidi behind.

Afton hadn't gotten a step out of the door when he heard someone say, "I never thought you could say such things, Afton." He whipped around to see Isabella, eyes dancing, hands full of clothes.

"I brought these over for Heidi. I hope that Felix has more clothes for himself, seeing as no one else here matches his size." Isabella put the clothes down and raised a fist up. Afton knew what she wanted to do.

She knocked loudly and before Felix could make it to the door, the two vampires sped down the hallway and back into the original room, laughing as they did so.

Felix emerged later, looking much more presentable, and made his way to the throne room to find his leaders. Aro was sitting there, looking amused at Felix's newfound happiness.

"Nice to see you for once, Felix. I'm sorry for cutting it short. You should take yourself and your new mate out hunting soon. Your eyes have darkened considerably."

* * *

**Eh, kind of raunchy there at the end :P Oh, Afton. I should use you more often because you are awesome.**

**Felix/Heidi was sort of an unplanned thing, but it reminds me of Emmett/Rosalie. For whatever reason. Hmm.**

**Thanks for reading! I'm just beginning research into the next fanfic, which will probably be _Heir of Ravenclaw_, so keep your eyes peeled for that!**

**~Shriayle**


End file.
